


Just a Cover

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-12 02:52:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3340874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not every day your best friend asks you if you want to get married. Of course, that wasn't exactly what she meant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Darcy picked up her phone and eyed it. Jane's name and number ran across the top of the screen.

_Hey, Darcy. Busy?_

She squinted at the paper she had half-typed on her laptop.

_Never too busy for my Jane. What's up?_

_Do you want to get married?_

Darcy blinked at the words for a few seconds, trying to figure out what exactly her friend meant. It was... a joke? Had to be a joke.

_Sure. We can get gay-married in NY, right?_

She stared at her phone for a few minutes, but there was no answer. “What the fuck, Jane?” Finally she shrugged, setting the phone down on the cheap wooden table beside her laptop and went back to her paper.

But then the phone rang. Jane's number again. She picked it up and answered it. “How does Thor feel about your upcoming lesbian wedding?” she asked by way of greeting.

There was a moment of silence. And then, “Ms. Lewis?” in a masculine voice.

Darcy took the phone away from her ear and checked the number. Definitely Jane. She put it to the side of her face again. “Uh, okay, either you've let those crazies you work with do fucked up things to your voice, or this isn't actually Jane, and I'm about two seconds from flying out there and kicking some serious ass.”

There was a knock at the door, and some sort of tag-team wrestling match on the other side of the phone. “Darcy.” Jane's voice now, somewhat breathless.

“Yeah. What the fuck is going on? Are you okay? Mention mew-mew if you're not.”

The knock at the door repeated, a little more insistently this time. “Is that the door?” Jane asked.

Darcy glanced at the door and shook her head. “Uh, yeah. They can fuck right off, my best friend is a potential kidnapping victim and I need to know what's going on.”

“Shit!” That was very un-Jane-like. She hadn't mentioned mew-mew, but she was obviously not in a good situation. “I was hoping he wouldn't be there yet. Open the door.”

“Uh, what?”

The knock was turning into a pound. The white-painted door was actually moving in its frame. Whoever it was, they apparently _weren't_ just going to fuck right off.

“I'm not opening my door until I know what's going on. Is this some sort of hostage thing? Do I need to call the cops?” And then the door _opened_. “Jane, I'm gonna have to go. You might want to send me those crazies you work with.” She thumbed off her phone and put it on the table, knocking the chair over her in hurry to stand up.

The man in her doorway was tall, bald, and he looked like he was trying not to look scary. And was totally failing. “Darcy Lewis?” Yup. He completely filled the door. Like, the whole thing. Dude was huge.

“Yeah. Did you just break into my apartment? That's actually a crime here- oh, and now you're entering. Breaking _and_ entering.” He'd stepped through the doorway, though he'd stopped just inside. “That's, like, twice as illegal.”

The second man who entered was a lot more successful at not looking scary. If anything, he looked a bit like someone's lost teddy bear. He had a pained smile that seemed frozen on his face.

And then- “Coulson?” Darcy squinted at the third man who came in and closed the door. He didn't even bother trying not to look scary. “Aren't you dead? Thor said you were dead.”

\---

Darcy was pacing around her living room. It was a tight squeeze, her student loans didn't exactly afford her the biggest apartment in town. She glanced at Coulson again, who was wearing the same suit he'd probably been born in, then shook her head. “Okay. So... Erik goes completely batshit crazy, Jane goes fucking _missing_ and SHIELD won't take my calls, and now, suddenly, you need my help? And I'm just supposed to drop fucking everything and fly to New York for this shit? I just got my life back on track. I'm going to graduate soon. And now you want me to, what... Uproot for an unspecified amount of time so I can play _housewife_? Do I look like a fucking housewife?”

“You look like a research assistant,” Coulson answered, completely calm. He was sitting on her ancient, flower-patterned couch looking like he _belonged_ there. She really just wanted to punch him. “You look like a woman who's familiar with some of the crazy things that are going on right now, and who knows that sometimes, sacrifices are necessary.”

She stopped in the middle of the living room and whirled to face him, hands on her hips. “Sacrifices? Is that what you call that little kidnapping job that squirreled me away in your secret research base underground? _Sacrifices_ ? Is that what you call what happened to fucking _Erik_ while he was locked away in the loony bin? _Still_ won't wear pants, by the way.”

There was another knock at the door. Darcy glanced around the room and shook her head, moving through the kitchen to open the door. “ _So_ happy to see you right now.” She threw herself into the broad chest of the first alien she'd gotten to know personally.

Thor hugged her and she immediately felt a little better. Asgardian hugs must have some kind of crazy space-magic. As she pulled away, though, a flash of red caught her eye and- “I can't even deal with this right now. I have reached my fucking limit.” She turned on her heel and went back through the house until she reached her bedroom. Slamming the door behind her, she slid down the smooth wood until her butt hit the ugly beige carpet. She crossed her legs in front of her and let her head fall back to gently rest against the door.

She could hear them talking. Her phone was out in the kitchen, or she would have put on some music and drowned them the fuck out. She tried not to concentrate on what they were saying. Thor sounded a little upset. Thor had a big voice. He wasn't happy that Coulson was not-dead and hadn't bothered to pass along the information. So that was a thing.

After a while, there was a soft, hesitant knock at her door. She scooted forward just a bit, reaching up behind her. Her hand groped over the wood for a second before closing on the handle, and she twisted it and opened the door. “What.” Not a question.

“Darcy?”

She couldn't help but like the way Leo said her name. Why couldn't he be, like, just an absolute asshole? She could've said no if he was an asshole. But no, he was _nice_. “Might as well come in. Hang on, let me get out of the way.” She let go of the doorknob and scooted forward a little more. The door opened until it gently bumped against her back, and she heard him come inside.

The door shut behind her and she scooted back until she was sitting against it again, though this time she shifted over so that there was room there for him, too. She didn't look up at him, just stared resolutely at the place where her legs met, crossed in front of her.

After just a second he sank down beside her, the wool of his blue sweater scratching over the door. “I'm sorry,” he said after a moment.

She waved away the apology. “You know I'm going to do this, right? I'm just having a sulk because, like... how is this my life?”

“You are?” The hope, the disbelief... He was breaking her fucking heart. She looked up at him and the look in his eyes almost made her cry.

She could hug him, right? They'd just met, but... Fuck. They were getting married, she could totally hug him. She rested her head on his shoulder and reached across him to put her hand on his other arm, squeezing him against her. He stiffened under her, his entire body getting taut. “I know this probably isn't your first choice, either. I'm not usually into hiding from shit, but... Jane, breaking in, Coulson, this whole thing, fucking Iron Man...” He reached up a hand and awkwardly patted her elbow, and she smiled. “Do you have any family?”

“Just my mum. She lives in... in...”

 _Aphasia_. That's what Coulson had said. “Scotland?” She felt him nod. “Is she going to come over for this?”

“She can't. She's not part of my cover identity.” So that broke her heart just a little more. “Did you see the pictures?”

Coulson had provided a folder of glossy pictures that she'd never, ever had taken, and she just now noticed that Leo was carrying it. “Not yet. Let's see.”

“Skye did them.” There was a note of fondness in his voice that made her smile. He handed her the folder and she straightened up, taking it and letting it fall open. She stayed close enough that their upper arms were touching, and he didn't move away. That was a good sign, right?

The first picture was them in some sort of photo studio. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt with a tie, she was in some sort off-white blouse-thing. “Engagement picture? It's nice. My boobs are bigger than that, though.” She flicked through the rest of the pictures. Selfies, taken at what looked like restaurants and around some sort of apartment. A picture of them walking and holding hands. “These are really good, though, the photo-manipulation is really well done.” She didn't even want to think of the level of monitoring that had gotten SHIELD this much picture-fodder for her. She knew that she was being monitored, like she was aware of it in the back of her head. It was a little surreal to actually _see_ the extent of it.

She closed the file and rested it on the floor between them. “So we met online? I like the smart ones and you were taken in by my huge... tracts of land?”

He laughed, which automatically lifted her opinion of him. “Your stellar... wits.”

She snorted, actually snorted. “Yeah. This'll work out. I trust Coulson worked out a whole thing for us? Backstory, relationship history, whatever.”

“I did, Skye and I. There's a file you can read on my... on...”

“Thumb drive?” She nodded. “Guess I'll be doing that now.” That was apparently now more important than finishing her paper. “I gotta say, though, the accent is really working for me. And for some SHIELD-agent-genius guy, you are _super_ cute. So, uh. When's the big day?”

“Tomorrow. Tomorrow night.”

Darcy looked over at him and registered the faint look of apology on his face. “Well, that's very tomorrow night-y. Uh. Okay. What are we... Justice of the Peace?”

He nodded. “Central Park.”

“Convenient. Okay. I need to call my BFF, and my phone is out by my laptop. Um. Are we flying back to New York tonight? Do I need to... get a ticket?” Not that she'd be able to afford a last minute ticket to New York, but if SHIELD needed her there to get married, then SHIELD could fucking pay for it.

“We'll go on the Bus.”

“I'm assuming you don't mean Greyhound. That's fine.” She scooted forward again, this time bracing her hands behind her so she could push herself to her feet. She turned and offered her hand to her fake fiance, who took it after just a second. She helped pull him to his feet, but kept his hand. “Um. We're gonna have to get cuddly, right? So it's not super obvious that we just met when it comes time for wedding pictures? I'm not saying, like, we need to get all full frontal here and now, but maybe a hug?”

Leo had a really nice smile. It just lit up his whole face. He held out his arms and she stepped into them, tucking herself against his body and shifting until it felt... if not comfortable, then at least not awkward and bizarre. “You smell good. What's your cover identity's name?”

“Leonard Fraser.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

“Oh good. So if I get used to calling you Leo now, I'm not gonna blow your cover when I do it when I'm drunk.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well. I'm getting married. Tomorrow. To someone I met today. I'm also moving to New York, and my entire schooling is now up in the air despite the fact that I'm almost done. It's nothing against you, you seem like you're pretty awesome, but tomorrow night is probably going to be spent with Jane and my bestie Jose.”

“There's a bar on the Bus.”

“Best fiance ever!” That made her think, though. “Why are we actually doing this? Like, I just looked at a bunch of pictures of you and I together that I definitely wasn't there for, why are we actually getting married?”

“The more... A cover identity is more believable when it's more...”

“Real?”

“Exactly.”

Darcy sighed. She pulled back enough to look into his face. “I guess that makes sense. There can be random people in the background who will be all, 'Yes! I remember that!' Because if even half the things Jane's told me about Tony Stark are true, it's gonna be...” She sighed again, making a face. “Ready to go put Coulson out of his misery? You can talk to him and I'll call Jane. Erik... Erik will be there. He doesn't like wearing pants, although usually he's pretty good about it in public. He had his brain a bit scrambled, but he's a fucking _genius_.”

“Like me.” He gave her another one of his heartbreaking smiles, and on impulse she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

“What's the story on that? Cover story, I mean, I don't want to pry into your actual life.”

A flicker of pain went through his eyes. “Lab accident. I was working on a... making... It was the...” It was like he was fishing for the words and they were there just below the surface, but they weren't taking the bait.

She took his hand. “Got it. Let's go give everyone the good news.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BECAUSE I NEED ANOTHER WIP. Apparently. So says my brain. This started as the "Arranged Marriage AU" for the challenge I've been doing and it sort of evolved into a multi-chap. This will be short? I think? 4 or 5 chapters at the most? We'll see.
> 
> So. This is a thing. I can be found on [Tumblr](http://pinkpandorafrog.tumblr.com/).


	2. Chapter 2

“So, now I'm standing here with _my_ fiance and _your_ fiance, and... I just... I'm having a hard time dealing with this right now, Jane.” Darcy was pacing. Trying to, anyway, it was a little hard to do. Her tiny apartment was basically _full_ . Leo was sitting on the couch beside Mack, watching her pace with a sympathetic expression on his face. Mack was mostly watching Leo, expression unreadable. Tony Stark, all Iron Man-ed up- and that suit thing took up a _ton_ of room- was staring Coulson with a completely blank expression, though every couple of seconds it looked like his jaw was twitching. Thor was glowering in a very I'm-filling-the-room-with-my-anger sort of way. He didn't like lying. He didn't like that Darcy was getting married _not_ for love.

“What's hard to deal with?” Jane asked, sounding just a little concerned but like she was trying to be cool. “You tazed the god of thunder.”

“I did. But he didn't just show up out of nowhere with a dead guy, break into my apartment- actual B-and-E, Jane- and tell me that I was getting married _tomorrow_.” She glared at Mack as she spoke, who had the grace to look a little sheepish. “Tomorrow, Jane. That's very tomorrow-y.”

“Ms. Lewis, we need to get going,” Coulson said cool like nothing ever bothered him, and she flipped him off. He could fucking wait.

“But you'll be here! You're staying here tonight. We'll have to go shopping, and then we'll just get absolutely plastered.”

Shopping. Right. Darcy's mind immediately went into organization mode. “Does Erik know? I mean, it feels like I'm the _last_ to know.”

“He does. He said he'll walk you down the aisle if you want him to.”

“Aww! Erik!” Warm fuzzies for _days_ . There was the quiet sound of a throat clearing. She glanced over at Coulson who was giving her his best pleasantly-neutral face of doom. He was _way_ scarier than Mack. “I gotta go, or Coulson's probably just gonna tranq me and drag me out of here. I'll see you... This afternoon? That's the good part, I guess.” She didn't get to see Jane that often anymore, so if there was a bright side to this whole thing...

“I'll see you soon.”

Darcy ended the call and put her phone down on the table. “It's going to take me a while to pack my whole apartment.” She put her hands on her hips and faced Coulson, not _quite_ a challenge.

“There's not enough time, Ms. Lewis,” Coulson told her.

“Uh, not cool, buddy. It might not look like much, but all this? It's mine. Is this like the iPod thing, in reverse? Hey, where's your team of super assassin-logistics-people? They sure packed up Jane's lab in, like, thirty seconds.” Not that she was still bitter or anything.

“Ms. Lewis,” the new voice pulled her attention over to the man in the red power armor, “I'll have some people here tomorrow to pack up your stuff. Just take your phone, your computer if you want it, anything you think you can't live without overnight. And in the meantime...” Iron Man opened up a compartment on his arm and fished out a shiny rectangle of plastic. “On behalf of Pepper and me, a wedding gift for my favorite low-level-employee-turned-protege. And his lovely bride, of course.” He was who had called her on Jane's phone.

Darcy reached out and gingerly took the card between her finger and thumb like it was going to bite her. “Thanks.” She tucked it into her pocket. “I'll see you tomorrow?”

“Tonight. We're throwing you a small, intimate get-together so you can get to know the people you're actually supposed to know.”

Darcy pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, giving him her unimpressed face. She'd heard stories of his 'small, intimate get-togethers.' Something about Thor and quarters... “It's Darcy, by the way, if we're close enough that you're giving me a black card.”

He gave her another smirk before sliding the mask over his face and leaving the apartment. Thor was close behind him, hugging Darcy one last time before heading outside.

She picked up her phone and grabbed her laptop. That was really... That was it. There had to be a corner store or something she could run to in Manhattan if she needed to get a toothbrush or whatever.

Her eyes slid over to Coulson. “Well, we going?”

\---

The Bus was not a bus. It was, in fact, a jet. And instead of getting out of the black SUV and getting on the jet like normal people, Mack drove the vehicle right up the open ramp.

Darcy glanced over at Leo, who was sitting on the other side of the back seat with her. “The idea of a bar is _super_ awesome, but is there coffee on this thing? I have a bunch of shit to sort out, and sober would probably be better.”

He was wearing a reassuring smile. His shoulders were down, posture relaxed. He felt comfortable here, that much was obvious. It was nice to see. “I'll show you.”

“Awesome!” She opened the door and went to grab her computer, but Leo was already reaching for it.

“I'll get it.”

“Thanks!” She gave a bright smile before opening her door and stepping out onto the ramp. There was a bright red car immediately beside her. It practically had a neon sign saying 'Do not touch' on it.

A woman was waiting at the top of the ramp, and she started moving down towards Darcy, arms outstretched. “Hi! I'm Leo's older sister Bonnie, and we're on a hugging-basis.”

“Oh. Great. Hi Leo's sister who I've totally met before and love like she was my own sister!” Darcy hugged the other woman for a moment. “This is really awkward for me.” She nodded as she pulled away, widening her eyes for emphasis.

Bonnie- probably not her real name- gave Darcy a knowing look and squeezed her shoulder. “You'll get the hang of it. And Fitz is a total sweetheart.”

Fitz? Oh. Leo. His actual last name was Fitz. She glanced back at where he was hanging back by the front of the SUV, holding her laptop tightly as he watched her and not-Bonnie. “Speaking of which, I'm totally keeping my last name. Empowered twenty-first century woman and all that.”

He nodded. “That's fine. Be a bit weird thinking of you as Mrs. Fraser, anyway.”

 _Mrs. Fraser._ “I'm getting married tomorrow.” She looked back at not-Bonnie. “I'm... getting married tomorrow.” Not-Bonnie gave her a sympathetic look.

That brought Leo over to her side. “Let's get you that coffee. I'll introduce you to Skye.” Hugging her laptop to him, he took her hand and led her towards a tight spiral staircase that was tucked over to one side. “Up here, Darcy. Watch your step.”

He dropped her hand so they could concentrate on going up the stairs. There was a little bit of a catwalk, and then what looked kinda like a living room with-

“Bar.” Darcy pointed, and Leo nodded. “Coffee?”

“How you do...”

“Milk? And just, like, a _ton_ of sugar. Thanks, Leo.” Darcy moved towards where a young woman was sitting on a gray-beige chair, a laptop open on her lap. The other woman smiled when she noticed Darcy and stuck out her hand.

“I'm Skye.”

“Darcy.” She shook Skye's hand and then sat down on the gray-beige couch. “Leo says you helped put everything together. Great job on the pictures, by the way, total creepiness factor aside.”

“Thanks.” Skye gave Darcy a knowing smile. “Yeah. I don't know if you've had a chance to read any of it yet...”

“Not really. Coulson was all, 'Hi! Not dead! Need you to get married to this one guy for his cover identity! It's Really Super Important! No time to pack, get into my doom-SUV, we're flying to New York!'” Darcy shook her head. “He's perkier than I remember him. He was a lot more unbuttered toast when I met him before. Or oatmeal. Maybe oatmeal.”

Skye frowned a little, sitting up straighter in her chair. “You knew Coulson?”

“Yeah. He kinda showed up in New Mexico one day and stole, like, all of my BFF's shit. And my iPod. He was all, 'National security!'” Darcy shrugged. “We've got history.”

Leo came back with the laptop still hugged close to his chest and a steaming black mug in his hand. He offered Darcy the coffee, and as soon as she reached up and accepted it, he sat down on the couch beside her, close enough for their elbows to brush. They were getting used to being in each other's physical space, which was good. Newlyweds tended to be cuddly.

“Thanks, Leo.” She took an experimental sip of the coffee. It was rich, dark, sweet. “Perfect. Totally the best fiance ever.” Leaning forward, she rested the black mug on a coaster on the coffee table before taking her laptop and opening it up across her knees. After she logged in, her paper was still sitting there, and she saved it and closed it with a feeling of guilty regret. “Okay...” A blank doc was opened and she stared at the blinking cursor for a second. “Rings?”

“Right. I have...” Leo had his arm across the back of the couch behind her, but at her prompting, he began patting his pockets. “I had...”

Mack came into the room then, not-Bonnie close behind. “Whatcha looking for, Turbo?” Mack asked as not-Bonnie sat down beside Skye.

“The... Darcy's...”

“Rings,” Darcy answered, looking up at the tall man.

“I've got them. I'm the best man,” he explained with an easy smile. He pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket and handed it to Leo. “Engagement ring. The other ones are tucked away safe until tomorrow.” He lowered himself into the chair across from Skye.

“Awesome.” Darcy lifted her mug and took another long, almost desperate, drink of her coffee.

Leo got the ring box open and took out a delicate gold ring set with a small, triangular peridot. He held it between his finger and his thumb, then looked up at Darcy. “Darcy, will you marry me?”

She was smiling like an idiot. It wasn't real. It wasn't the impassioned question from a man who loved her like... Well, like Thor loved Jane. But she still couldn't stop smiling. “Of course I will.” She held out her hand, and he slid it onto the appropriate finger. She couldn't stop looking at it, turning her hand a little to watch the stone reflect the light. “It's my birthstone. You probably knew that.”

“Mine too.”

“August birthdays!” She held up a closed fist, and after just a second, he fist-bumped her. “Awesome. So that's done. I totally approve, by the way. Alright... Dress. How dressed-up are we going with this?”

“Do you want a white dress?” Skye asked.

“Fuck no, do I look like a virgin sacrifice?” Not-Bonnie snickered. “It's actually probably going to come down to finding something that fits. We're not gonna have enough time to really alter anything, and it is hard to find something off the rack that will both fit the girls and not make me look like I'm wearing a potato sack.”

“I have a suit,” Leo said. “Black. Nothing fancy.”

Darcy twisted her head over to look at him. “I bet you look good in a suit.” She took a moment to savor the mental image. “Jane's taking me shopping this afternoon on Uncle Moneybags' dime, do you want me to see if I can find a tie to match my dress?” She didn't even give him a chance to answer before she demanded, “How did I become this person?”

“What person?” Concern shone in Leo's blue eyes.

“Matching your tie to my dress. Next thing I know, I'll be dreaming about picking out china patterns and buying his and hers monogrammed towels.”

He took her hand, curling his fingers around hers. It was comforting, somehow, like he was reminding her that she wasn't in this alone. It helped.

By the time they had sorted out a solid wedding plan and made a list of everything that they still needed to get, there was only about a half an hour left of travel time. Everyone else made flimsy excuses and drifted away, leaving Leo and Darcy alone on the couch.

She looked over at him. “Keeping in mind the whole getting cuddly thing, mind if I...” She gestured to his torso.

“No, it's fine.” He shifted back until he was in the corner of the couch and she followed, turning so that she could sit against him. It took a bit of shifting around, but eventually she was resting back against him, her head on his shoulder, her shoulders pressed into the side of his chest.

She grabbed the arm that was resting along the back of the couch and pulled it down, across her stomach. “There. Comfy?”

“I'm alright.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “This is nice. You're very... s-soft.”

“Why are you... Like, I know this is preparation for some big important classified mission or whatever, that's not what I'm talking about. Why are you getting married? Couldn't you have a convincing back story that involves a swingin' bachelor pad with a disco ball?”

“I'll make one for our place. With lasers. It'll be our alarm clock.” Darcy grinned and shook her head. “It's more convincing. The more ties I have to a real life... And with a real life, after a big... when you...”

“Promotion?”

“Right. You get married. One success leads to another.”

“And Leonard Fraser just got a big promotion. Congratulations, by the way. I hear Tony Stark is at the top of his field.” She held out her hand, turning it so that the green gem on her finger caught the light.

“Skye's going to be jealous.”

Darcy's eyebrows rose. “Why's that?” She hadn't picked up any fluffy romantic vibes from the other woman.

“She's a big fan of the Avengers, Thor especially.”

That made sense. “Thor is awesome. He's like the big brother I never had- and he's actually big. Like, just...” She put her hands together and then pulled them apart. “Seems to get more muscly every time I see him.”

“I've heard a lot about him. Dreamy, I think, was the word used most often.” Leo sounded a little bit disgruntled.

She grinned. “He's super pretty, I'll give you that. _Totally_ in love with Jane. Me, I appreciate any man who can see that there's a person behind my stunning wits.”

His hand slipped under hers, catching her fingers and holding it up so that he could get a better look at the ring. “Why did you agree to this? You had a choice about this, no matter what Coulson said. He was convinced you were going to say no.” The unspoken, 'I was too,' hung in the air.

Darcy shrugged. “I've seen some serious shit. And not just on TV. Did you see what happened in London?”

“We were on the clean-up detail.” There was a wry tone to his voice.

“Yeah. So you _know_ . We were there- that was us. There's some scary fucking shit going on that the average person doesn't really understand. Jane, she's...” She shifted against him, and he dropped her hand. She wrapped both of her arms around the one he still had tucked around her waist. “She lives there, with all the Avengers, she's in their super science club or whatever. She called me just before you showed up. She was all, 'Let in the scary dude who's trying to break your door down.' Which means that whatever it is you're building a cover identity for, it's _important_ . I like our planet. I think I'd probably like it a lot less if it was taken over by evil crazy people. Plus, the whole paying off my student loans thing is pretty awesome.” Coulson had led with that. Her student loans were just going to disappear. “And you're nice. If you'd been an asshole, I would have told you guys to just fuck right off, but then you were all sad puppy eyes and the accent and actually just _nice_ and I couldn't.”

“Sad puppy eyes?” He sounded like he was on the verge of incredulous laughter.

“Yeah. You look like _you've_ been through some serious shit and could use about a week straight of cuddles. Luckily for you, I am _awesome_ at cuddles. Although. I do need a separate blanket to sleep with, I can't share.”

“We'll be at the apartment for a couple of weeks before we move into the tower. It'll be small.” That was the plan. There was an apartment somewhere in Manhattan that Skye had made some rental history up for.

“Uh, Leo? Did you see _my_ apartment?”

“Smaller than that. Skye compared it to a postage stamp. That's where those pictures of us were.”

Darcy shrugged again, trying to remember. All she was getting was generic off-white apartment walls. “So more cuddles. I am _not_ opposed to this plan.”

He was silent for a few moments, then, “Mack's not scary.” Kinda defensive.

“Coulson fucking is. Have you met the guy? He seems like the type of guy who would cold-eyed kill someone, and then go and have a cup of tea and some toast.”

“Beer, actually.” The total nonchalance had her believing that Leo had seen that exact thing.

She shifted, moving her hand over Leo's and sliding her fingers between his. The answering squeeze came immediately, and it made her smile. “I will _totally_ read your file of background things tonight when I'm not sleeping because I'm freaking out about getting married tomorrow, but tell me how we met.”

“Gaming. You're really good at... at... Like Call of Duty.”

“First-person shooters? Um, obviously.” She actually was. She'd racked up a ton of hours in the super secret science bunker of kidnapping.

“I thought you were funny, and you appreciated that I didn't do that thing male gamers do when they realize you're a girl.”

Darcy nodded, making a face. She knew all about that thing. “And the accent, of course. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Sometimes I don't even play because I just don't want to deal with the bullshit. Did we meet before or after your lab accident?”

“After.” The single word came out clipped. This was obviously a sore point for him. Maybe he'd actually tell her what happened at some point.

“Okay. Hang on.” She shifted around again, scooting back until she was sitting across his lap, leaning back on her elbows on the arm of the couch. “Hi there.”

 _That_ look. Like he needed just a year's worth of hugs. His eyes widened as though he hadn't been expecting her to do that. “Hi.”

She took her glasses off and put them on the arm of the couch beside her. They were probably going to end up on the floor, but she didn't care. Scratch-resistant. “Wanna make out for a bit?”

“We could.” He wasn't quite meeting her eyes, staring instead at her forehead.

“We don't have to, no means no. I just figured... we're probably not going to get a whole lot of privacy between now and 'I do' time. I'd rather our first kiss not happen in front of fifty other people.”

He nodded. “It's just... I've never done this before.”

“Yeah. Me neither. I will forever refer to you as my first husband.”

“No, I mean... I mean... You're...”

She stared at him for a second as she tried to figure out the words that weren't coming to him. “Leo, you are entirely too cute to be a virgin.”

He smiled, and his eyes finally dropped to hers. “I'm not. Smartest guy at the academy, I was popular.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“I've never been... never had a girlfriend. There was one... I felt... But she wasn't...”

“Me neither.” Darcy grinned and nudged him with her wrist. “I did have a boyfriend back in fifth grade. He was kind of a dick. Then I got boobs and got used to seeing to tops of people's heads. Then college, then Jane- she got more action than I did, not even kidding- then college again and now...” She hummed the first couple bars of the Wedding March. “Are we really going to be married? Is this going to be as simple as going, 'Hey, annulment!' or am I going to have to find a divorce lawyer?” She was kidding, at least about the lawyer part.

“We're actually getting married. Leopold Fitz doesn't exist anymore, the only record the world has of me is as Leonard Fraser.”

“Leopold. I like that. Suits you. More than Leonard does, anyway.” She shrugged. “Divorce lawyer it is.”

“Leonard will probably be killed when this is over.” He was watching her like he was gauging her reaction.

“A widow? I can work that. I am so using you for sympathy sex.”

“You're practically dancing on my grave already, aren't you?” But his blue eyes were laughing.

“Only a little. Plus, you get to be my excuse for being an introvert. 'I can't come out with you because I saw a jet fly overhead today and it totally reminded me of my first trip together with Leo,' all pale and tragic.” She gestured at her face.

His eyes widened in disbelief. “I wouldn't have pegged you as an introvert.”

“Oh, please. I took an astrophysics internship for six credits.” He nodded, he probably knew enough astrophysicists to know that it meant many lonely hours staring at charts and things. “Hang on.” She took her phone out and cuddled a little closer to his shoulder before holding it up in the air and taking a selfie. “There.” She held up the phone so they could both see it.

“You're not wearing your glasses.”

“Um, I typically like to take them off when I make out with hot guys. The whole glasses bumping into the sides of faces thing isn't hot.”

He looked at her for a moment before his lips were suddenly against hers. It started out tentative, but then it _wasn't_ . She abandoned her phone on her lap and pushed her hands through his curly hair. It was softer than she thought it would be, and she never wanted to stop. His lips moved against hers like he had a whole bunch of pent up _something_.

He wasn't the only one. She thought they'd just have a kiss or two and then chat until the jet landed, but she ended up straddling him, their tongues dancing together almost frantically. There was a brief thought about her phone, but then she just didn't care. His hands cupped behind her shoulder blades, holding her loosely enough that she could get away if she wanted to.

She didn't particularly want to.

“Fitz!”

Leo broke away and they both turned towards the voice. Skye was there, grinning, her phone up in front of her. “I'll play with the background and send this to Dr. Foster. You guys are adorable. We're almost there, time to head up to the quinjet. Apparently you guys are landing on the roof of the Avengers Tower.”

Leo turned his head and murmured right in Darcy's ear, “Totally jealous.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skye suggested that she play Fitz's sister, but Coulson was all, "Nope. You'll spend the entire day fangirling over Captain America." And she was all, "Yeah, so will you." And May was all, "There's a reason he's not going, either."


	3. Chapter 3

A few hours later, Darcy had all the things she thought she needed, some she was pretty sure she didn't, and a headache. In addition to Jane, not-Bonnie- whose name turned out to be Bobbi- had gone with her because she said she had experience in shopping for atypical sizes.

She'd found a dress. It was white, but not virgin sacrifice white- it had a large floral pattern- a 50s-ish tea dress with a keyhole cutout at the back. But it fit, it looked cute, and totally hid her bra straps. Darcy's boobs took one look at strapless bras and laughed and laughed.

She got shoes, too. And Bobbi pressured her into getting actual lingerie even though her wedding night was probably going to be spent drunk-texting with Jane. Because even though they weren't going on a honeymoon, they needed to spend their wedding night in some super-fancy hotel suite somewhere. Bobbi had helpfully told her that she'd spent the entire trip up to her honeymoon suite with her ex-husband slamming each other into the wall to suck face. And that it would be easier if Skye didn't have to fake it on the hotel's security cameras.

Apparently the story was that Leo and Darcy had been engaged for a little while. He'd gotten his promotion and been all, “We should get married right now. I just got promoted, I love you, let's do this thing.” Which explained the very hastily thrown-together wedding.

And Darcy hadn't been living in West Virginia for the past little while, she'd been shacking up with Leo in New York, getting her degree online and working part-time for Jane as her lab assistant. She'd met Leo online while she was in London and when she'd found out he was working at Stark Industries, she'd moved back to America when Jane did. They'd gotten engaged pretty quickly after that.

She'd had a bit of time to read in traffic.

After the shopping trip, Pepper Potts had come in and said that they needed to stage a bridal shower. So Darcy had been handed a margarita with a penis straw sticking out of it and was ushered into a very nice lounge.

“How is this my life?” she asked Jane, who was sitting beside her on the chaise, halfway through her own margarita. There was a gift bag- pearl gray with loopy handwritten-style script on it- of high-end lingerie and sleepwear that wasn't actually meant to be slept in between them, conveniently in Darcy's size, as well as a box of penis-shaped chocolate liqueurs that was mostly empty. It was for show, of course, so that there could be pictures of Darcy getting bridal-shower-appropriate things.

“At least you're here,” Jane answered. “It's really nice to see you again. And you'll be moving in, in...”

“Two weeks,” Darcy answered, taking a sip from her drink. It was heavy on the tequila, which was just fine with her.

“What about your degree?”

“Oh!” Darcy nodded, settling her drink down on the floor beside her foot. “Apparently since I've been doing it online all this time, I'll be able to finish it online. Which is really convenient, I wish I'd known about this online thing earlier. I'd probably already be done.” She'd actually specifically looked when she was first thinking about coming back to America and it hadn't been available. It was now, though whether that was a result of Stark Industries' bank account or Skye's miracle fingers she didn't think she'd ever know.

“Are you still going to want me? I'm sure you have actual science interns now, are you going to want a poli-sci major?” Darcy meant the question seriously. Jane pretty much had the backing and space to do whatever the hell she wanted now, including hiring people out of an actual astrophysics program.

“Of course! No one could ever take your place, Darce.”

“Aw!” The alcohol was pushing her limit for warm fuzzies a lot closer, and she leaned over and hugged her best friend. “You're the best, Jane.”

“Are we already on the drunken hugging portion of the evening?” Bobbi asked, settling herself down behind Darcy. She tucked up one foot under herself, a glass of something pink in her hand. “Is it even evening, yet?” She didn't seem to be nearly as inebriated as Darcy felt, probably crazy SHIELD training. Not that Darcy was really that inebriated.

Yet.

Darcy pulled out her phone. “It is precisely 4:32. So not quite evening.” She idly checked her email before holding it up and taking a selfie with Jane and Bobbi. “Drunken hugging, though. It's always time for drunken hugging.”

Bobbi looked around, frowning. “There's a card somewhere around here with a gift card in it for an online sex store. I'm supposed to be grossed out by actually buying you sex toys since I'm going to be your sister-in-law, but I think it'll come in handy.”

Darcy nodded. “Do you know all about the mission?”

“I do. I can't talk about it, of course, highly classified, but... I'll be interfacing with you a lot. You should expect to see me once every couple of weeks or so.”

“I'll be seeing you a lot, even on a biweekly basis?”

“Yes.” Bobbi nodded, and her eyes were touched with sympathy. “We're putting a month of real time prep into this, Darcy, we're talking months. Possibly longer. Can you handle that?”

“Hey. I was an 'intern' for, like, two-and-a-half years. I can do this shit.”

Jane was nodding in a very pointed, exaggerated fashion. “Best intern ever.” She was less sober than Darcy was, and Darcy nudged her, grinning.

Bobbi nodded thoughtfully. “Hopefully it won't take _that_ long.” She took a sip of her drink. “Pepper was saying that they'll take pretty good care of you here, but if you need anything else, just let me know. I put my number in your phone, Bonnie Morris.”

“You are _on_ it.” She hadn't even been aware that her phone had been missing for a short time.

Bobbi gave her a very patient look. “You're not sober. Always keep your cover on the phone, if you need something you don't want overheard, I'll get in touch on a secure line. There's a sat phone in that bag we gave you, keep it on your person at all times.” On boarding the quinjet, she'd been given a small black backpack with a phone, a tablet, and a specially-modified gun in it.

Darcy nodded. The not sober thing was absolutely true. “Am I going to get some kind of training or something?”

“If you don't know how to shoot, you should probably learn how. But that's why you're here. Short of the Playground, this is probably the safest place you could be.” Bobbi's eyes flicked around the room like she was assessing it for safety.

“Am I going to be in danger? I mean, not like that's exactly a new thing for me, I just kinda wanna know.”

“I hope not.”

Which meant that it wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibilities. Well, that was fine. Darcy had helped Jane save the world _twice_ already. Being in danger was her bitch.

Pepper came over and started gathering together the bag of silky and lacy things. “We're going to be invaded soon. Tony seems to think everything that happens in the tower is his personal business.” There was a fondly indulgent tone in her voice that gave Darcy more warm fuzzies. “Especially when it involves alcohol or sex.”

Darcy nudged the open box of chocolates with her knee. “This should really be right up his alley, then. No, seriously. This is more dick than I've had in... Ugh. Nevermind.” That was a depressing thought.

Bobbi nodded. “Gift card. Pepper, did you see the card I had for Darcy?”

Pepper nodded. “I tucked it in here. I'm putting this in my office, I'll have my assistant take it down to the apartment we're keeping for you tomorrow.”

“I'm so sorry about this, ma'am,” the AI-butler said, sounding actually sorry, just a second before the unmistakeable opening to _Got to Give it Up_ filled the room.

Bobbi looked like she was on the verge of laughter. Pepper pressed her lips between her teeth and hustled over to the door that led to her office, _just_ depositing the bag and closing it again before the door from the hall opened.

Tony Stark stood there in the doorway for a moment like he was trying to make an entrance. He took up a lot less room without the Iron Man suit.

“Seriously?” Darcy asked, giving him a look. “Marvin Gaye?”

“Just trying to set the mood.” He sort of danced in, beckoning to Pepper, who put her hands on her hips and shook her head. She was smiling, though. He made his way over to her and took her hand, and then, despite her token protest, she started dancing with him.

Darcy looked at Jane. “Is this...”

“Normal. Completely normal.” Jane raised her glass in toast before finishing the last of it. “You just learn to go with it.” She was sort of bobbing along to the music, and when Thor came through the door, she got up and went over to him and they started dancing. This was something Darcy had never seen before. It was... Adorably awkward.

Darcy looked over at Bobbi, who looked pretty amused. “Don't look at me,” the other woman protested, shaking her head, “I've never met most of these people. Although...” A knot of people had come through the door, and Mack was talking to a stunning redhead and a guy with sandy-colored hair as well as Captain America. Bobbi unfolded herself and made her way over to them and there were hugs and Darcy was alone on the chaise with the chocolate.

Leo came in on the tail end of the group with another short, curly-haired man. He was excited, animated, he looked the happiest he had since Darcy had met him, and she smiled to see him like that. He was talking with his hands, and every now and again the other man would break in and Leo would nod.

Darcy picked up her margarita and took a sip. It was significantly more room temperature than it had been the last time she'd had a drink from it, and she made a face.

She glanced up again and found Leo was looking at her. He waved brightly and she smiled and raised her drink. As she watched, he said something else to the man beside him, who patted his shoulder, and then made his way over to the chaise.

“Simmons is going to be so jealous that I got to meet Dr. Banner.” His eyes were still sparkling with excitement.

“You look like you're having a good time,” she offered with a smile.

He nodded and dropped to sit down beside her. “I love it here. We make a lot of the smaller... smaller... things, but SHIELD uses a lot of StarkTech, and being where it's all made is just...” He grinned, evidently so excited that it had to come out in a physical way. He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her gently against his side.

Darcy offered him her margarita, but he shook his head. “I don't drink anything stronger than beer, it... my co- co... Um, my bad hand.” He held up his right hand in front of them, flipping it over a couple of times.

“Coordination.”

“Yep. Tony said I can use his robot, it's got a hand.” He paused. “Well, it's just a hand, really, but he says it's got good fine motor control. That'll really help, actually. My mind is still...” He waved at his head like he was unscrewing a lid. “But my body doesn't want to keep up.”

It was on the tip of Darcy's tongue to ask what had really happened. This was the first time she'd seen him talk about what had happened without even a flicker of pain in his eyes. But he was in such a good mood, she didn't want to ruin it for him. So instead she just said, “That sounds awesome, Leo,” with a heartfelt smile on her face.

“What about you, are you having a good time?”

She smiled and pointed to the chocolate. “I have gotten more dick tonight than I have in... we'll call it 'years' and leave it at that.”

“Really? But you're so... Huge tracts of land,” with the accompanying hand gesture with the arm that wasn't around her.

She let her head fall back against his arm, shaking with silent laughter. “You're the best. No, it's just... Since getting caught up in all of this,” she pointed across the room to the assorted superheroes and undoubtedly deadly SHIELD people, “I just can't with normal people. They're all, 'my biggest concern is GMOs in my organic milk,' and I'm all, 'Really? 'Cause mine is wondering when aliens are going to show up and try and kill me. Again.' We're on twice, personally, not counting the SHIELD-sanctioned kidnapping when Loki tried to take over the world. _Again_.”

He nodded. “I know what you mean. I can't talk to anyone about anything I do. I get as far as, 'I make...' and then it's all confidential. And I don't exist anymore.”

“Too bad you didn't leave room in your cover story for an affair, I bet there are a ton of ladies around here who would be more than happy to give you a hand, if you know what I mean. Oh!” She looked over at him, eyes wide with a sudden thought. “I did get you a tie. It's nothing special, just blue 'cause there's blue in my dress and you look good in blue. You probably already have one, but I figured... Uh... It's in Jane's apartment.”

“No, that sounds great. I'm sure I'll have a chance to get it before tomorrow night.”

Darcy rested her head against his shoulder. After a second, he rested his head against hers. “What would you have done if I'd said no?” She couldn't stop the question from coming out.

“Would have tried to go ahead with it anyway, I don't really have much choice. You saying yes makes it more likely that I'll succeed, though. You're probably saving a lot of lives, Darcy.”

“Totally adding this to my saving the world tally, then.” She licked one finger and held it up in the air, making an invisible hash mark.

“Hey!” Tony Stark called from across the world. “Lovebirds. Dinner. It's the night before the big day, so what do you want?”

Darcy lifted her head and looked over at Leo. “What do you want?” She was assuming that if he spent his time living on a jet and a super secret base somewhere, there was a good chance that his culinary choices were a lot more limited than hers had been.

“You know... It's been a while since I've had really good... Um...” He made a pinching motion with his finger and thumb. “Uh, it's...”

“Hang on,” she called back to Tony. “We're deciding.” She looked back at her frustrated-looking fiance. He was drawing circles in the air with his finger and making the pinching motion again.

“It's... seaweed.” From his expression that wasn't quite the word he wanted, but she was able to put it together.

“Sushi?”

“Sushi.” A look of relief came through his eyes. “It's been a while.”

“Sushi it is.” She went to get up, but his arm around her tightened, pulling her back against his side. She looked over to see an absolutely serious expression, almost like he was worried. “What's wrong, Leo?”

“What if this happens tomorrow when we're getting married? I know it's not real, not for me anyway, but it's... this is your first... I'll always be your first husband. I don't want to embarrass you.”

Darcy's heart broke just a little more at the look in his eyes. He just was so sweet and so earnest, and she just wanted to hug him forever. “There's no way you could embarrass me. There are about a hundred ways to say yes, and if your brain isn't connecting speech, you can just nod.” He nodded then, but he didn't seem any happier about it. She blamed her next idea on the tequila. After all, as Jose reminded her, a few hours ago she'd spent about twenty minutes straddling his hips with her tongue in his mouth. She leaned forward and gently touched her lips to his. “Trust me, there's nothing you could do to embarrass me. And I'm totally proud that my first husband is an ass-kicking genius SHIELD agent. That's how I'm going to describe you, by the way. Ass-kicking genius.”

The beaming smile he gave her made her lean forward and kiss him again, and this time he leaned in when she went to pull back, drawing the kiss out.

“And that, kids, is why I put on Marvin Gaye.” It was like a wall of smug coming across the room.

This time when Darcy pulled away, Leo didn't follow. She looked at her fiance and sighed. “He has to come to the wedding, doesn't he?” she asked.

Leo nodded, a resigned look on his face, his eyes still sparkling with amusement. “I'm afraid so.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is... Going to be longer than 4 or 5 chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

Bobbi had casually mentioned Leo's deep, abiding love for monkeys, and Darcy had made it her personal mission to find a tie with a monkey on it. What she found was a silk tie with a monkey-slash-leaf pattern that wasn't obnoxious, so he could wear it when he went back to SHIELD or whatever.

After going out for sushi and for most of the following day, Tony had commandeered Leo- Thor said this was a thing- so Darcy ended up not getting the tie to him right before they had to leave for Central Park. He took one look at it and pulled her close for a kiss, an absolutely delighted expression on his face- they were really getting the hang of that whole being cuddly thing.

Bobbi and Pepper had explained the need to make sure as few people as possible knew that the marriage wasn't real. Work history was easy enough to fake, especially in a busy place like Stark Industries, but interpersonal relationships would be remembered. It was essential that they spent most of their time when they weren't alone in their apartment 'on,' so any practice getting being casually intimate with each other could only help.

Darcy was riding in an SUV with Bobbi, Jane, and Pepper. Their driver, a man named Happy, was apparently in on the whole thing because he was head of security or something like that. This was the last chance she really had to relax before everything started.

Bobbi was apparently wired so that Leo's friends who weren't there would be able to see the ceremony. Even if this marriage was only a cover, it was _actually happening,_ and he had friends who wanted to be able to see it.

Friends she would probably never meet.

“You okay?” Jane asked, taking her hand and squeezing it. Jane was sitting right beside her, Pepper on her other side for ease of going over some last minute details. Darcy prided herself on being organized, but Pepper was _on it_.

“Yeah,” she answered honestly, eyes wide. “It's just... this is actually happening. And it's real even though it's not, and all of Leo's friends and his mum can't be here. I mean, you and Thor are here, and Erik, and that's... You know, you're my family.”

“They'll all see it,” Bobbi told her. “Not his mum, but everyone else. We're his family. Skye's probably going to call him tonight so everyone can talk to him. We're used to this, to not really being part of the world.” Bobbi was turned in her seat to talk to Darcy, and she waited until she had Darcy's full attention. “We chose this. We could have turned ourselves in, Fitz could have gotten off the Bus after HYDRA was revealed. We _chose_ this. Don't let him see your pity, he gets enough of that.” The gentleness of her tone took most of the sting out of her words- _most_ of it- and Darcy nodded. What else could she say?

After a minute or two of extremely awkward silence, Darcy said, “You know, I don't think Leo's really the slamming-into-the-wall type.”

“Maybe not,” Bobbi ceded with a smile. “As long as you two act like you can't wait to get to the suite and tear each other's clothes off.”

“Why is this whole public thing important, though? If Leo's getting hired by whatever other company in two weeks, is the hotel really going to keep security footage for that long, and is the new company really going to care?” She'd done her reading last night, the whole file.

“In the next day or two, it's going to become very clear that Stark has made Fitz his protege. A lot of companies are going to start looking at him very seriously, because it would be an amazing coup to hire him. They'll check. Since HYDRA came out of hiding, high-level companies with interests in the security or munitions fields are extra thorough about background checks. Especially the ones who work in the grayer areas of the industry.”

Darcy looked a question at Pepper, who nodded. “Hiring anyone new has become a hassle at best. You want to know the most you can about potential applicants- the more you know, the safer you feel. While _we_ wouldn't stoop to checking the security footage of a hotel the night after a couple's wedding, there are other companies that would think nothing of it.”

Darcy felt a shot of worry run through her. “He won't be working for HYDRA, will he?” That would be problematic, at best. He'd been heavily involved in SHIELD before that whole thing had happened, and there'd undoubtedly be someone who would recognize him. But SHIELD wouldn't put him in that situation... right?

Bobbi hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “No, not HYDRA.”

“Good.” That much was a bit of a relief.

When the driver pulled to a stop, Pepper reached out and put her hand on Darcy's knee. “We'll have a few minutes before the bulk of the media shows up, but we're on as soon as we get out of the car.”

Darcy took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Why are we doing this again? Why didn't we pick some courthouse out of the way somewhere?” Paparazzi at her _wedding_. This was absolutely insane.

“Because Tony likes to show affection with material things and grand gestures.” There was that fondly indulgent tone again, with a smile to match. “And Tony likes Leo.” That wasn't even an act, judging by the amount of Darcy's fiance's time the billionaire had monopolized over the past day alone. Darcy must have made some kind of face, because Pepper went on to say, “Don't worry- you'll get the security code for Tony's lab so you can rescue him when it's time to go home.”

“Right. Okay.” Darcy took another deep breath. “I'm happy, I'm excited, I'm ready to do this.” She opened the car and got out. The security team ( _seriously?_ ) was already there and milling about in their dark suits and sunglasses. The SUV containing the male contingent of wedding goers- Leo, Tony, Thor, Mack, and Erik- was already there as well, and it didn't take long for Darcy to pick Leo out of the crowd of taller men. He looked _hot_ in his suit and blue monkey tie, and her grin wasn't at all faked as she made her way over to him.

“You look  _good_ ,” she told him, stepping into him for a full-body hug. “If we weren't the ones getting married, I'd  _totally_ be trying to pick you up for some hot wedding action.”

“You look beautiful,” he returned, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

After a moment, though, Darcy reluctantly pulled back. “We should probably get moving,” she told him a bit reluctantly. “Before we have to wade through a crowd.” They were already starting to draw some attention.

Leo nodded, his eyes moving over her once again. “Do you know where to go?”

“Eyes up,” she teased.

“I'm allowed to leer at my fiance, you know. It's practically expected.” Still, his eyes came up to her face before moving through the crowd of people, likely to see if he could find someone who looked like they knew where they were going.

Pepper caught Darcy's eye and inclined her head slightly, and Darcy reached down to twine her fingers with Leo's. “I think Pepper knows where to go.”

The small crowd, gathering more attention with each second, moved more-or-less as a unit down to a rustic-type wooden structure thing where an officiant and someone with the brisk efficiency of a wedding planner was waiting for them. And musicians. And a photographer. And a videographer. And the kitchen sink? Darcy was sure she'd find one if she looked around long enough.

Darcy was given a bouquet with blue-and-white flowers, apparently whoever was coordinating with the coordinator- probably Pepper- had taken the blue idea and run with it. Leo had a matching boutonniere, and Darcy helped him pin it on. She fumbled a bit with it, and they both laughed and then she kissed him.

The wedding itself was quick. Erik walked Darcy towards where Leo was standing with the officiant, they ran through the dearly beloved-slash-vows bit, and then they were kissing with more tongue than was probably appropriate for wedding photos, but Leo looked really good, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. He hadn't faltered at all through the ceremony, and she was glad for him. Despite her assurances, she knew he was worried about it.

And then there were posed photos that took entirely too long, and then they were all piling into the vehicles to go out to the reception. Darcy and Leo got into one of the Stark Industries company cars- with its own driver- together for some actual alone time, and after buckling herself in, Darcy collapsed against Leo's shoulder for the duration of the trip. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rested his head lightly against hers.

The reception was at a restaurant that Tony had rented for the evening so it would just be them. There was a lot of delicious food and some dancing, and enough drinks that Darcy was definitely tipsy by the time she and Leo were headed back out to the car. The driver was waiting for them, overnight luggage was in the trunk, all they needed to do was go to the hotel for their 'intimate getaway.'

“Did you bring your laptop?” Darcy asked as she settled in the car beside her...

Husband. He was her husband. Her actual husband, matching wedding rings and all. They'd been sort of going since reaching Central Park that afternoon and she hadn't really had a chance to sit back and process yet.

Now though, brain slightly pickled from tequila, sitting in the back of the black sedan, her brain was catching up.

“I did. It's back there.” Leo gestured behind them with his thumb before settling his arm around her shoulders again and pulling her against his side. “You okay?”

Darcy glanced up at the driver, not Happy, which meant staying 'in character.' “My feet are absolutely killing me.” Leo squeezed his arm around her shoulders. “No, it's just... Today. Today was really, really surreal, I'm just trying to process it. I want to see if either of us made it into any of the non-official pictures of today.”

“Hopefully not until later,” he protested.

She turned her head to look up at him, grinning. “I don't know, you look pretty tired.” She met his eyes, shadowed in the darkness of the car, eyebrows lifted faintly in challenge.

His mouth moved up into a half-smile, and then his leaned over until their lips met. They both  _tried_ , but kissing while they were all buckled in tightly was awkward, and at last Leo pulled away. Darcy settled her head down on his shoulder, and he just held her until they got to the hotel.

The driver retrieved their luggage from the trunk for them before speeding off into the night. Darcy hoisted one strap of her backpack onto her shoulder and took Leo's hand, lacing her fingers in his. “How are you holding up?” she asked in a low voice as they walked through the wide doors into the hotel.

“I'm alright. Bit tired, but I'll keep.”

They got checked in and shown up to their suite. The Plaza wasn't really a slamming-into-the-wall type of hotel  _anyway_ , but they hardly let go of each other until they were safely in their suite.

Leo took some sort of thing out of his pocket and walked through the suite with it while Darcy took off her shoes and sat down gratefully on the couch in the living room. Her heels had put her within an inch or two of Leo's height, which was awesome for pictures and slow dancing, but her feet had had just about enough. “What's that for?” she asked as he came out of the bedroom.

“Checks for... for m... for bugs. We're clear.” He brought it and his own backpack over to the couch and sat down beside her.

Her eyes focused on it, a little black rectangle with a thing sticking out of the top. “That is a handy little thing. You make that?”

He nodded. “We'll have to use it every time we get to our apartment until we move into the tower.” He gestured off towards the wall. “I think our apartment is about the same size as that closet in there.”

Darcy made a face, then shrugged. “You are awfully cuddly, Leo, I think I'm okay with that.”

He was grinning as he pulled his laptop out of his backpack. He set it on his thighs and opened it up, and Darcy realized she was being all kinds of rude, all looking directly at his computer screen. She started to get up. “I'll go and-”

“You don't have to. I'm just going to talk to Skye.” His hand on her arm was what convinced her to stay, and she sank back down on the couch, folding one leg under her. It seemed almost automatic that his arm came around her, and she fitted herself against his side, head on his shoulder.

Leo opened up some sort of video connection, and in just a second, Skye was there. The background didn't look like anything Darcy had seen on the Bus, though admittedly she hadn't seen the whole thing.

“Okay, you guys are just too cute for words. So, congratulations!” There was a chorus of congratulations from other voices on her end, but she was the only one visible on the screen. “First fake marriage, how does it feel?”

“Well, she's a lot more supportive than fake-girlfriends I've had,” Leo returned dryly, and they shared a laugh.

They chatted for a few minutes and Darcy kinda zoned out, only listening with half an ear. It was surprisingly relaxing to be cuddled up against Leo like that, maybe she could even fall asleep. Her eyes drifted shut.

She wasn't sleeping, not really. Her ears picked up her own name, but she was being talked about rather than to, so she just smiled and stayed right where she was.

Leo's shoulders stiffened, though, and that made her sit up and look over at him in concern. He was still doing his video-conference thing, and a brunette with an undeniably English accent was on the screen. There was a look of strained happiness on her face that matched the set in Leo's shoulders and the tightness of his jaw.

Her stirring had caused a lull in the conversation, and she jumped on it. “Wow. I must have fallen asleep- sorry, Leo.”

He looked over at her, and she thought she saw a flicker of gratitude in his blue eyes. Either that or a speck of dust. “It's okay. You're reminding me I'm a bit tired myself.”

“Well, that's what you get for letting Tony keep you out all night. By the way, that shit ain't gonna fly with me, I am a  _pro_ at wrangling scientists.” She gave the woman on the screen a smile before getting to her feet, brushing the skirt of her dress down. “I'm gonna raid the bar, you want a beer?”

“Please, if it's not too much trouble.”

“Trouble? Seriously. I'm probably going to be doing your laundry. A bottle of beer isn't any trouble.” She flashed him a quick grin before heading through the bedroom and into the small room with the wet-bar. It was fully stocked. She took her time finding beer for Leo and bottle of tequila, waiting until she couldn't hear his low voice anymore before making her way back out to the living room.

He'd closed the laptop and put it on the table, but he was still staring at it. He started as she neared as though he'd forgotten she was in the suite with him. She smiled and held out the open bottle of beer. “Was that her?”

“Who?” His eyes widened in surprise.

“The woman with the feelings?”

He stared at her for a second before nodding, putting his beer to his mouth for a long drink.

Darcy set her bottle and a shot glass down on the coffee table before sitting down beside Leo again. “I know we're only pretend-married, but... if you want to talk about anything, I've got a couple ears. I don't judge, either.”

“Thanks, Darcy. I appreciate it.” He reached for her, and she snuggled up against his side again, legs drawn up so her knees were resting against his thigh. “I'm not quite ready for sleep yet.”

“Me neither. So either we could go in the other room and bang each other's brains out- fair warning, sex wakes me up rather than making me sleepy- or we could talk. I don't know how much info Skye was able to get on me, but there's probably stuff that was left out that, as my wonderful husband, you should know.”

“Sex?” He seemed a little taken aback at the idea.

“Sure. Not... You know, here... I've seen way too many forensics shows...” she shuddered. “Ew. No, but... I'm down for casual sex. I was joking, you know, if you're not...” She sat forward and poured herself a shot of tequila, mostly in the interests of getting herself to stop babbling. She tipped the glass back, pouring it down her throat, then gently turned put the glass back on the table and turned to-

- _husband_ .

She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes, glad to see that he didn't look completely disgusted, at least. “Okay. I didn't come into this thinking that we'd actually be having sex. I was joking. I am totally down for casual sex as a general rule, but this isn't exactly a typical sitation. And also you... might not be? You seem a little weirded out by it, which is totally fair, considering we just met and you have a lot of super classified things going on right now, and the nice British lady. So I guess it's on the table if you want to talk about it in the future or whatever, but I won't bring it up again.” Still babbling, but at least coherent? She poured herself another shot and drank it quickly, slamming the empty glass down on the table this time. “Also, I will totally sleep out here if you want.”  _Please say something_ .

“No, it's a big bed. I think we'll be okay.” Leo smiled. “I don't know that we're going to have room to not share a bed in our apartment anyway. Might as well get used to it.”

“Thank fuck you're not as big as Thor.” She tentatively leaned into his side again, then more securely when his arm came around his shoulder. “The man is hard enough to share space with in a normal-sized place.”

There was a long pause. “You looked really beautiful today. You do, I mean.”

She was grinning as she reached up to lace her fingers with his. “Thank you! You look super hot with the suit and everything. Go us for being a good-looking couple.” She held up her other fist, and he fist-bumped her almost immediately this time.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, then Leo asked, “Did you a lot, then?”

“What's that?” Darcy was halfway to dozing off again. The alcohol, the long day, and Leo basically won at cuddling.

“Share space with Thor?”

“Well.” Darcy tucked her feet up on the couch again. “Let me tell you about Puente Antiguo.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a bit to plow through this chapter. Weddings... Eh. But. Now they're married. AND THEY WON'T STOP BEING ADORABLE AT EACH OTHER FOR REAL.


	5. Chapter 5

It was strange to wake up beside someone. Darcy realized she was chilly as she sat up and took stock of the situation. “Holy balls, Leo, there had better be two fucking blankets waiting for us in our apartment,” she muttered, glaring at him where he'd basically made a burrito out of himself with the bed's blankets. “That shit is _not_ okay.”

Only his curly hair was visible, she didn't know whether or not he was awake. But his voice drifted out from the blankety depths- he was awake, and he'd heard her. “Wouldn't have happened if you hadn't slept so far away you were practically in the bathroom.” She hadn't been sure he was awake, but he since was... There was  _no_ excuse for being a blanket hog while he was awake.

She just shook her head. Anyone else might had gotten a piece of her mind, but she wasn't exactly comfortable yelling at him. Or snatching the blankets away.

Yet.

Instead she got up and started a pot of coffee before heading into the bathroom. When she came back out, he was still all snuggled in. She looked at him for a bit, considering what she wanted to do. She didn't want to actually get up and get dressed yet, and staying in bed sounded pretty awesome, but... she needed blankets. “Yeah, okay, smart-ass. Time to get up.” She walked over to his side of the bed and climbed on, straddling him, and made a quick assessment about where all of his limbs would be, judging from where his head was.

“Darcy? What-”

And she tickled him, her fingers seeking out his ribs. Even the blanket-burrito couldn't stand against her.

He started laughing almost immediately, protesting. “Darcy! Stop!” He couldn't really do anything about it because he was all wrapped up.

After a few seconds, she flopped back onto the bed, aiming one final poke at his side. “Gonna stop hogging all the blankets now?”

“I'll get you back, you know.” One end of the blanket came untucked from underneath him and flung over her head.

It took a second to find her way out, and she ended up on Leo's pillow, facing away from him. She tugged the blanket down around herself. That was better, at least. “Bring it.”

“You better watch out. We did pranks all the time-” he cut off abruptly and the last couple words were heavy with emotion. Leo was silent for a second. “You know you don't have to do my laundry.” His head was right behind hers on the pillow, he must have been contorting himself into uncomfortable positions because he wasn't actually touching her at all.

“You're sure as shit not doing mine. It is  _tough_ to find cute bras in this size, and caring for them is a pain in the ass. If I'm doing mine, might as well do yours.” She twisted onto her back, staring up at the textured white ceiling. “And seriously, you're going to get a cramp if you stay all twisted over there like that. I don't bite, I'm even wearing pajamas.”

He smiled at that, she saw his whole face lighting up out of the corner of her eye as he eased over, close enough that her arm was against his chest. He didn't seem to know what to do with his arm, and ended up gently resting his hand on her stomach. “This okay?”

She nodded, turning just her head to look at him. “That smile is almost worth having to wear pajamas to bed, Leo. Seriously, you look... relaxed.”

His smile brightened, if that was even possible, making Darcy smile too. “I have nothing to do. For the first time I can remember, I have absolutely no reason to get out of bed. We have to check out in a few hours, but for now...”

“Not a lot of downtime, huh?”

“Nope.” He didn't sound bitter or anything, that was just the way it was. She was suddenly reminded of what Bobbi had told her about not giving him pity because he'd chosen that life.

“What do you actually do? I mean, just... You know, make stuff?”

Leo shifted, settling himself down a little more, his hand sliding closer to Darcy's outside hip. “Now that there are so few of us, I do a little bit of everything. Your ICER, I did that.” That was her gun. “I did... I made... Little things... And collecting and analyzing data, so much data entry.” His tone went rueful at the last words.

“Sounds like you guys could use a liberal arts intern. Seriously, my data entry skills are  _legendary_ . I mean, I probably know more about theoretical physics than some undergrads  _now_ , but when I started it was a lot of, 'hand me the thing,' 'drive me to the place,' 'spend the next ten hours doing data entry.'” That was... a rough time. Thankfully, she and Jane had learned to work together a lot better.

“A mind like that wasted in political science...” He was grinning as he said it, though.

She gave him a look. “Sounds like you guys could use a political science genius, too. A whole fucking PR department, at that.”

He shrugged at that, at least one shoulder. “What are you going to do when... when...”

“When you're dead? Cry at your grave for at  _least_ an hour.” She smiled at the look of mock-upset on his face. “Honestly, I don't know. Assuming I have my degree by then... I spent over two years as an intern, you really think I have my shit together enough to decide what I want to do when I grow up?”

He shifted again. “If I stay here any longer, I'm going to burst.” He wiggled out from the other side of the blanket and stood up, stretching. He shuffled around the bed and out towards the bathroom.

Darcy took this as her opportunity to pull the blanket around herself like a cocoon. The other side was still warm from his body heat, she could definitely see the appeal of the blanket burrito. And it smelled like Leo. There was a sudden urge to just cuddle it around herself and breathe it in- where the hell did that come from?

“Darcy, d'you want some coffee?” he called from the other room just a few minutes later. “It's finished.”

Now she _couldn't_ hog all the blankets. That just wasn't fair. “Please.” She was rearranging the pillows so that they could sit up against the headboard when he came back in, carefully carrying two steaming white cups. She accepted one of them gratefully and shifted over a little so he could get back into bed. “I was going to take all the blankets when you were gone, but then you had to go be sweet at me, and I couldn't.”

“Oh, I'm very...”

“Devious?” she suggested with a grin. “Hand me that so you don't spill.”

She took the second cup and held them both up out of the way as he settled back down beside her, sitting up against the headboard like she was. She handed the mug back when he reached for it.

“Thanks. I could talk to Coulson, you know. I don't think he'd say no to anyone, even a political science major.”

“About a job?”

“Yup. We're short on bodies.”

She took a drink from her mug, resting her head against the headboard as she actually thinking about it. “That's an interesting idea. I don't have the same associations with SHIELD that you do, though. To me, SHIELD is the scary government agency that only shows up when they want something or to take my shit. To you, it seems like home.” Her coffee was perfect, he'd remembered how she took it.

“It is.” The warmth in his voice told her more than the words ever could.

She felt a little pang. Darcy wanted that. She hadn't really had a _home_ since they'd left New Mexico. “Last night when we were dancing, Tony told me I should convince you to stay with Stark Industries.”

“Did he?” Leo sounded completely surprised by that.

“Yeah. He has _the_ biggest nerd-crush on you, I think. I told him that I was pretty sure you were happy where you were, but I'd talk to you about it.” She took another long drink. “Here I am, talking to you about it.”

“I don't think I could ever leave SHIELD. Still, good to know I have... Um...”

“Options? Always good to have options, Leo.” There was no escaping the hint of bitterness in her voice, but she turned her attention to her coffee, hoping he would ignore it the same way she'd ignored the pain in his earlier. “Hey, how do you take your coffee? That's something I should probably know.”

“Black,” he answered without hesitation. “More room for caffeine in the cup.”

She smiled, shaking her head. “That's very efficient of you.”

\---

There was only one blanket at their apartment. To be fair, the apartment was slightly bigger than a postage stamp. Not much, but slightly. It was a studio, with enough room for a double bed- also a problem- a tiny, two-seater table (half taken up by a microwave), and a fridge with the tiniest amount of counter space and no kitchen sink. It was going to suck to do the dishes in the pedestal bathroom sink, luckily they probably weren't going to be spending much time there. There was an actually reasonably-sized closet beside the bathroom, and Darcy was pleased to see that it actually contained a pretty good selection of her own clothes. Tony's people had done what they were supposed to. The rest of it was probably waiting at the tower for her.

“Wow,” Darcy said, standing by the side of the bed with her hands on her hips as she took another look around the room. “Talk about cuddly.”

“Are you going to be able to sleep?”

“Yeah, should be fine. I mean, I'm kinda already planning a trip to our local Target to pick up another blanket, but my big thing is that I can't sleep with anyone's skin touching mine. Since neither of us are sleeping naked, it shouldn't be a problem.” She let her eyes drift up to where Leo was standing at the end of the bed. “So long as  _someone_ doesn't hog all the blankets again.”

He was smiling. “I wouldn't if you'd slept a little closer.”

“Yeah, I don't think we're going to have much choice here. This is...” Her eyes moved around the room, taking everything in again. “Cozy.”

His blue eyes moved over the bed. “More room than we have on the Bus.”

“Yeah, but you probably don't have to share with anyone else on the Bus.”

He shrugged. “Not at the same time, anyway. There's only the five bunks, so if the Bus is full...”

“Really?” Well, that kinda sucked. Having to take turns sleeping in one bed. “Well, the bed's small, but it's not that small.” She sat down on the end of it and bounced a couple of times. The springs protested. “That's... Nice.”

Leo was still holding his little black box thing from checking the apartment for bugs when they'd first come in, and he set it on top of the microwave. “Two weeks.” His eyes came up to meet hers and there was a bit of a long-suffering look there.

“It won't be so bad. Plus, I'm sure Skye has you all hooked with the good WiFi so we can watch endless Netflix. Although I'm sure we'll be spending most of our time at the Avengers Tower anyway.” She gave him a look. “I meant what I said, though. I'll be getting you out of there at a reasonable time every day.”

His eyebrows went up. “How's that?”

“It's just a matter of finding what you respond to. With Jane, I had to annoy her so much that she'd leave the lab to get a break from me. With Erik, after the thing...” She smiled a little. “Mostly tea. And being willing to listen to what he had to say. And hugs, he's big on hugs. You, though...” She tilted her head a little to the side. “You're a tough nut to crack, Leo.” Her eyes moved over him. “I'll work it out.” She shook her head, glancing at the bed again. “I'm headed out to the store. You gonna stay here, or do you want to come?”

He looked a little confused. “We have food.”

“Yeah. No coffee maker, though. That's a deal-breaker for me. I can't live in this marriage without a coffee maker. And don't even think about suggesting instant, that shit isn't even coffee. It's like... crystallized hate.” She stood up, moving over to the chair she'd dropped her backpack on. “This is a deal-breaker for me, I will absolutely divorce you without a coffee maker.”

Leo looked a little dubious, even past his smile. “Do you know where you're going?”

“Not in the slightest. But... It'll be an adventure?” She grinned. “Be a good idea to get familiar with the subway before we actually have to use it.” Darcy turned her attention to the backpack. There was the gun, her phone, her wallet. She took everything else out and dumped it on the bed. “I only wish TASERs were legal in this damn state.” She was sure as shit felt more comfortable with a TASER than a gun.

“TASERs?”

She looked up to see him looking slightly alarmed. “Did you not hear the TASER story? Didn't I tell you the TASER story last night?” When he shook his head, she grinned. “Well. When I met Thor, I tazed him.” She nodded. “Yeah. That was good times. He is heavy as _fuck_ , by the way. Probably heavier now, he got... Bigger. Thankfully Erik was there, or we probably would have just had to leave him there.” She looked down at the gun in the backpack. There was a concealed carry permit with her name on it, as well as a subway pass, sitting in her wallet.

“You what?” Leo sounded completely alarmed at the prospect.

“No one threatens me or my friends. No one.” Darcy zipped up her backpack and lifted it to her shoulders. She looked over to see him still looking a little taken aback. “It's one of the reasons he likes me so much. Apparently knocking out the Prince of Asgard makes you a worthy opponent and filled with honor and whatever?” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I'll ask Pepper if she can hook me up with someone to teach me how to use this ICER of yours.”

“You tazed Thor?” His expression was frozen on _horrified_.

Why was he stuck on this? “Yeah. Just the once. Plus, he stopped being such a dick soon after that, so I really think I did him a favor.” She hooked her thumbs behind the straps of her backpack. “Coming?”

He shook his head almost like he was shaking himself out of it, looking around the room. “Yeah, just let me...” He grabbed the box-thing from the top of the microwave, as well as his own phone. “Can I put these in there?” He pointed to her backpack.

“Sure! Can you actually grab my phone while you're in there? I haven't even looked at it since yesterday. Plus, there's an app.” She turned her back to Leo, and she felt him unzip the backpack, putting his stuff in it before coming out with her phone. He offered it to her over her shoulder, and she took it, leaving him to zip up the backpack.

It wasn't very long before they were riding the subway. They were standing, Leo was holding on and Darcy was leaning against him, looking through her phone, his other arm around her waist. Jane had emailed her, and she opened up what turned out to be a picture. “Look at this!”

He looked down when she turned the screen for him to see. “Is that us?”

“Yeah. Apparently it's online somewhere, Jane found it. That's Tony's arm, I think.” She pointed to the dark suit-covered arm at the very edge of the picture, probably cropped out. “We look good, though.” The picture was of her pinning on his boutonniere, they were both smiling. They looked genuinely happy, if she hadn't known that their marriage wasn't really heartfelt, she would never have guessed.

She felt his lips against her temple, and she smiled, turning off her phone and putting her arms around him as she turned to face him. “Best husband I've ever had.”

“I'd be proud, but that also makes me the worst.”

She looked up to see a mock-disgruntled look on his face, and she leaned up to kiss him. “You're the best husband I know? Then again, I don't really hang out with a lot of married people, so that probably doesn't help.”

“Not as much as you might think. Especially after you told me that last part. You could have just not said it. I take back what I said about you being... being...”

“Supportive?” Her eyes widened with feigned innocence.

He smiled and kissed her. It started as just a gentle kiss, but it certainly didn't end that way, and they almost missed their stop.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. SO MUCH FLUFF. I wanted things to get a little spicier, but apparently these things ARE NOT TO BE RUSHED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.  
> Soon, though.  
> Also, I binge-watched the shit out of AoS again since it starts again next week, and S2 Fitz makes me so sad. Like, all the cuddles for him, seriously.


	6. Chapter 6

The first day he went to work at Stark Industries, he brought home a disco ball. With lasers. That he promptly hung from the ceiling above their bed, and every morning they woke up to a light show. It was effective too, someone actually had to get up and stand on the bed to turn it off.

It was easy to settle into a routine. Get up at stupid o'clock in the morning. Get dressed, grab some coffee and some sort of breakfasty pastry from the coffee shop between them and the subway, and then take the subway out to the Avengers Tower. Walk with Leo up to Tony's lab, give him a kiss, and head out for schoolwork, helping Jane, or learning to use the ICER Leo had given her. Usually a combination of all three on any given day.

Darcy rode herd on all the scientists like she had on Jane and Erik, it was easy to get back into that role. She enforced lunch every day- apparently 'Pepper' was a sacred word, and judicious application made Tony quite compliant. Once, Darcy had needed to follow through with her threat to summon the CEO up from her office. Just once. She didn't have to do it again.

Leo seemed pretty happy. He really missed SHIELD, of course, but the reality of having unlimited space and money to just put shit together to his heart's content had him in the best mood by the time Darcy came to collect him at night. He said that the thing that helped the most was that there was no pressure, which made Darcy remember again what Bobbi had said about him getting enough pity.

They'd grab dinner on their way home, he'd spend part of the evening chatting with Skye or Mack on his laptop, and then they'd cuddle up together in their bed to sleep.

After the first night of waking up every so often to constantly shift away from each other, they whole-heartedly embraced nighttime cuddles, both of them. It made for a much more restful night. Sometimes he was the big spoon, sometimes she was. Darcy was seriously rethinking her previous life choices about not getting seriously involved with anyone, because nighttime cuddles were really just fantastic.

As long as they both had separate blankets.

Everything was going along just perfectly, and soon enough it was time to move into the tower.

Darcy shifted where she was sitting against the head of the bed, trying to get more of the pillow she was laying on at her shoulders. She was looking forward to having some actual seating. And a bigger bed. “Have you seen the apartment they're putting us in?” she asked, looking up at Leo. “Fucking _huge_. I think I'm in love.”

“I was there yesterday. There were some bags there...” He wasn't _quite_ meeting her eyes, he was standing over in the kitchen area and looking at somewhere over her left shoulder arms folded tightly in front of him.

“Bags?” She stared up at him for a second before realization kicked in. _The lingerie._ “Oh! Right. That was the, uh... Wedding shower. Apparently those are the types of things you receive at a wedding shower?” She shrugged. “I've never been to one before, but that's what they tell me. But we needed pictures. So that everyone knows we're all kinds of getting lucky. Which, I mean...” She grinned and gestured to him. “Obviously.”

“Obviously?” he repeated, his gaze swinging over to meet hers, some question lurking in his blue eyes.

She shifted again, sitting up a little straighter. “Have you seen us? We're hot, Leo. Also, our PDA managed to make some of the interns uncomfortable last week.” She held up her fist to him. When he didn't move away from the counter to fist-bump her, she sighed. “Gonna leave me hanging, here? Cold.” She dropped her hand and turned her attention back to her laptop. “Netflix? We could get out for a while, it's nice outside or whatever. God, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to having room to actually do shit. Maybe I'll do yoga.”

There was a long pause before he answered her. “Maybe we should stop.”

“What's that?” She was scanning through the Netflix list for something new to watch. Archer, maybe? Leo hadn't seen Archer yet, and sticking to comedies seemed to be the best idea for everyone involved.

Another lengthy pause. “The public... It feels a bit much.”

She looked up to see Leo staring at the top of the microwave, one hand on it as though he was looking for something to do with his hands. “A bit much? Are you serious? You weren't around when Jane and Thor reunited. _I'm_ intimately familiar with his tongue, and I haven't ever gone near him like that.” He didn't answer, though, and he did appear to be serious. She shifted the laptop from her legs onto the bed, and then scooted over to the side closest to the kitchen and stood up. “If it bothers you, though, then yeah. Let's, you know, stop.”

He looked at her, glanced her way for just a second before dropping his eyes again. “It's just, do actual couples really do that? I don't want to... want to...”

“Yeah.” She shrugged, taking the few steps that separated them. “Jane and her libidinous demigod aside, I'm a very tactile person, Leo. Platonic cuddles are totally a thing for me, if you haven't noticed. I've actually toned it down a little, because apparently newlyweds are supposed to save all their affection for their spouses instead of their friends.” He sort of shrugged, and she sighed. “Normally I'd use us moving into the same building as our mutual workspace as an excuse to drag you away for a midday quickie every day, but...” She looked up at him. “If you're not comfortable, you're not. This would be a good time to stop, too. Suddenly living in the tower means you might be super eager to impress Tony, which means taking work more seriously, which means not making out in front of him.”

He looked down to meet her eyes, nodding. “That makes a lot of sense. That would make me feel better.” He did look really uncomfortable.

“Then that's the story.” She grinned and leaned up to kiss his cheek. Or she meant to. What actually happened was that he moved his head suddenly, turning towards a noise, and her lips ended up grazing his earlobe.

Leo went completely still. Like, just frozen. She eased back, eyes on his face, worried. Had she just, like, hit some sort of secret agent kill-switch or something?

Except it wasn't _hostility_ in his face. His blue eyes were locked on her face, the hot intensity there enough to make her shiver. Carefully, like he was afraid he was going to scare her off or something, he reached up and traced slightly shaking fingers along her jaw, from her chin back to her ear. He combed through her hair, his hand coming to stop at the base of her skull, cradling her head.

Hoping she wasn't reading the situation _impressively_ wrong, she rested her hands against his chest and slowly leaned up, giving him plenty of time to pull away if he wanted to. He didn't, though, and when she brushed her lips against his, she heard him exhale heavily through his nose.

Darcy was a very touchy-feely person, even when they weren't “on,” their days were filled with hugs and cheek kisses, but this was the first time post-wedding _this_ had happened when there was no chance of an audience.

She did it again, lingering this time until his lips gently opened, a clear invitation. She dipped her tongue just inside his mouth. This was comparatively tame compared to some of the things they'd done outside of Tony's lab in particular, but it felt like so much _more_.

She wanted him. She'd wanted him for a while. He was sweet and funny and _hot_ in that shy nerdy way that she had a big weakness for, and now he was flicking his tongue against hers, and her fingers closed in the front of his shirt.

His other hand settled tentatively at the side of her waist, and for the next little while there was nothing but the heat of his hands, the movement of his lips against hers.

The next logical step seemed to be to find the buttons of his shirt, and her fingers closed over the small button just under his collar, slipping it open. And when he made a quiet noise into her mouth, the next button under that. She kept going down until his shirt was completely open, sliding her hands inside, over his bare torso.

Leo's fingers tightened a little on the back of her head, his other hand sliding around to rest in the small of her back.

He seemed to have sensitive ears, apparently, so she slipped her mouth from his to kiss along the length of his jaw, rising up on her toes as she moved back. When Darcy closed her lips over his earlobe, drawing it into her mouth, she felt him still again as he made another soft noise.

But then his hand were on her shoulders, gently pushing her away. She settled back onto her heels and took a step back, looking up at him in some concern. “What's wrong?”

“I...” He shook his head, she saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. “I just can't right now, Darcy. I'm sorry.” He sounded sorry. He _looked_ sorry. The expression on his face broke Darcy's heart just a little more.

“No, I'm the one who's sorry, all jumping on you when we made it clear this was just going to be...” Yeah. So _this_ was happening. Darcy felt like she was going to drown in her guilt.

He was doing his buttons back up and he paused, shaking his head. “It's not you, Darcy, you're... It's just...” He grimaced, shaking his head again, looking a little frustrated.

She sighed. “Uh, Netflix? I don't know if you've seen Archer before...” Maybe they could just pretend it hadn't just happened. That really seemed like the best thing to do, although maybe not the easiest...

“I think I'm going to head into work for a bit.” He still wasn't quite meeting her eyes. “I'll be back tonight.” He did look at her then, just a glance, and then he turned towards the door and left, biting his thumbnail in what looked like a nervous gesture.

Darcy buried her face in her hands and went to collapse on the bed. “Well, fuck me,” she said aloud to the empty room. She spent the rest of the afternoon drinking coffee and distractedly watching shows on her laptop, and was more than a little relieved when Leo turned up again.

He brought dinner with him when he came back, a pizza with pepperoni and pineapple- what _she_ liked on her pizza. And when they crawled into bed that night, he cuddled up close behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

She had a hard time sleeping.

\---

“So, my husband rejected me last night,” Darcy announced, looking up from her mindless data entry to where Jane was seated at another computer, doing the same thing. “That happened.” Her fingers kept dancing over the keys, with only the occasional glance down at her work.

Jane looked up at her sharply. There was a moment of heavy silence, then, “What? Are we talking about this right now?”

“Um, Jane?” Darcy folded her hands in her lap. “I held your hand from New Mexico to Norway to London. I know exactly what shade of red your face gets when you and Thor have to go shopping for _another_ bed frame. We're talking about this.”

Jane's face went a pale shade of that exact red. She took a pointed look around, one of her lab assistants was doing something with one of her pieces of monitoring equipment. “Are you sure?”

Darcy nodded. “Uh, yeah.” She knew she'd have to be careful about what she said, but she actually wanted to talk about it with someone.

Jane sighed and sat back, turning her office chair to face her friend. “I thought you guys were...” She glanced at her lab assistant and gestured helplessly.

“Well, we were. You know... he was giving me signals and I was all, 'I'm just gonna make a move on you in the kitchen,' and he was all, 'I'm so into this!' and then I was all, 'totally making a move,' and suddenly he was all, 'I think I left the stove on,' or whatever.” She leaned back against the back of her chair, crossing one leg over the other. Her foot started bouncing almost immediately. “Like I'm carrying the plague or some shit.”

“Did you ask him about it? Communication is the key to a successful relationship.” Yeah, Jane would know about that. She and her fiance were from completely different cultural backgrounds, and they'd had their fair share of missteps and clarification.

“I tried. He wouldn't talk to me. Just said he was sorry and came to work for a bit.” Darcy folded her arms under her breasts, staring at the corner of her desk.

“Maybe that's what it is. I know Tony's a bit hard to get along with sometimes, and you guys are moving in here today... I mean, it's been a busy few weeks for him.”

Darcy nodded, swinging herself back and forth just a little. “I guess.”

Jane watched her for a moment. “He wasn't here last night.”

“No, and he came home with the kind of pizza _I_ like, and we cuddled up like we normally do to sleep.” She sighed, making a face. “Not that I actually _slept_ at all. I was all, 'hey, I really fucked things up,' and, 'why's my husband so fucking hot?'”

Jane was nodding. “He is your type, isn't he? I didn't really think about it, but he's a lot like-”

“ _He who shall not be named_.” Darcy fixed her friend with her best glare. Because she loved Jane, but _no one_ got to mention _that_ name.

Jane's eyebrow went up. “You and Voldemort, Darce. But it sounds like he was trying to make sure everything was okay between you two. When Thor and I have a bit of a miscommunication, he brings me things he knows I like.”

“And you two break another bed frame?” Darcy asked drily, but she got what Jane was trying to say. “I guess. I'm just... This marriage shit is tough. Especially...” Her eyes flicked over to the lab-coated back of the research assistant. “The aphasia makes it a bit trickier.” Not what she'd been intending to say, but still true. “He gets so frustrated with himself when he can't find the right words.”

“That could be part of it, too. Why he didn't want to talk about it. We had a bit of a language barrier at first, and it made things a lot harder.”

Darcy nodded, sighing. “Yeah, but at least you had the language of love or whatever. We've got...”

Jane gave her a sympathetic look. “You guys are getting moved in today, right? Why don't we duck out a little early and we can go hang out in my apartment for a while? You know Tony's going to tell Leo he doesn't have to leave yet because he's literally just an elevator ride away from his home.”

“Aw, you're the best, Jane.” Darcy scooted her feet along the floor, rolling her chair over until she was beside her friend, and leaned over for a hug.

Jane returned the embrace. “You were there for me, Darce. Maybe between the three of us, we can figure this thing out. Thor's got some pretty unique insight sometimes.”

“Sounds great.” When they pulled apart, Darcy gave herself a big push, rolling back across the concrete floor of the lab until she bumped into the desk she'd been sitting at.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated, thanks to the anon who poked me on Tumblr. So, there's some angst... Seriously, communication is important!


	7. Chapter 7

It was nice to hang out with just Thor and Jane again. They killed a bottle of wine and all cooked dinner like they used to in London, and it was just... awesome. They discussed Darcy's... issue. She would have been able to bully or annoy Jane into talking to her, but that wasn't going to work with Leo. He had a stubborn streak a mile wide. The consensus seemed to be to be patient and give Leo his space because he had a lot going on, but to just jump on it if he wanted to talk.

Which he did, almost a week later. He came into the spacious kitchen- seriously larger than the entire apartment they'd shared outside the tower- where Darcy was sitting at the kitchen table and finishing up her last assignment.

He stopped in the doorway and stared at her, arms tightly folded across his chest, until she saved her file and looked up at him. She took him in as she gave him a friendly smile. He looked... Preoccupied. “What's up?” she asked, turning so that she was sitting sideways in the chair and facing him.

He studied her in silence for a second. “Hypoxia.”

“Insufficient oxygenation?” Darcy didn't work with scientists without picking stuff up.

“Yep. There was a man, a SHIELD agent. He was... We thought... I thought...” He was frowning at the floor at his feet.

She got up and started getting herself some coffee. She kept her body turned towards Leo but her eyes on her mug, so that he would know she was still listening without staring at him. He found it easier to find words when he wasn't being stared at.

“He was one of my best friends. He was HYDRA.”

She glanced over at him, and her heart broke at the look on his face. Since the not-sex thing, she'd left it up to him to initiate most of the physical contact because she didn't want to push him on it, but the haunted look in her eyes compelled her to abandon her mug on the granite countertop and walk over to wrap her arms around his waist. Her cheek went against the soft sweater on his shoulder, and she held him.

After just a second, he put his arms around her as well, accepting her embrace. “I trusted him, and he tried to kill me. Simmons and I, we were stuck at the bottom of the ocean. She got me out, she did, but it left... it made... Hypoxia.”

“Which caused the aphasia.” That made a lot of sense.

“And my hands...” His fingers dug into her sides, just a little, as though he was assuring himself that his hands still worked. “It's hard to trust new people.”

She nodded, her cheek moving over the soft gray wool. “Completely understandable.”

There was a heartbeat's worth of a pause. “But I trust you.”

The absolute vulnerability in his tone made her raise her head and look up to meet his gaze. There was something very open, very raw in Leo's blue eyes as he looked back at her. He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers, just the barest hint of a kiss. “I want you, Darcy, so much that it's hard to sleep at night.”

She nodded, watching his face. That was somewhat of a relief, and she knew exactly how that felt. There was something else, though. “But...”

“I don't know if I can... If my...” He shook his head, eyebrows coming together in his frustration. “I haven't been with anyone since my brain stopped connecting, and I don't want to disappoint you.”

She watched him for a second or two. Well, if they were potentially maybe going to do the do, talking about it was definitely a good idea. “There are many different kinds of sex, Leo. As a general rule, I pretty much enjoy all of them. If we mutually decided that this was something we wanted to do, you know, I'm sure we could make it work.”

“It's just... my hands. I'm not sure I could...”

Realization dawned. “Foreplay. You're worried about foreplay?” At his slightly relieved nod, she smiled and leaned up to give him a gentle kiss. “I don't know if you noticed, but I happen to have a couple of hands. Also, big fan of oral sex, provided my partner is also a willing participant.” Darcy looked up at him, eyes flicking back and forth between his. “There are lots of things that get me going that you don't necessarily need your hands for.”

She paused, then shrugged. “So your hands don't always do what you want them to, that's no reason to deny yourself intimacy or pleasure. If there's another reason, that's, you know, reasonable. But this?” She stepped away from him, pulling out of his embrace. She took his hands and held them up between them, lacing their fingers together. “The only concern I have about this is how you feel about it. Otherwise, it's a complete non-issue for me.”

Leo pulled gently on her hands, tugging her towards him again and bringing her hands around his waist. He let go when he got them to the small of his back, reaching out to curl his own arms around her. He bent his head down to kiss her again, and this time they lingered against each other, her hands moving up over his back.

When they finally parted to breathe, Darcy leaned back a little. “Why don't we go sit on the couch and just see what happens?” She looked up into his blue eyes to gauge his reaction. It was a pretty low-pressure suggestion. Go make out for a bit, and then if things failed to ignite, it would suck, but it would be easier to just walk away.

He gave her a smile that was pure heat. “Why don't we go to bed?”

As if Darcy could turn down a request like that. She slipped away from Leo, and they found each other's hands as they walked through to the bedroom. They stopped beside the bed and Darcy turned towards him again. She reached up to slip his sweater off his shoulders, and it felt to the floor with a quiet sound. “You always wear this many layers?” she asked.

He nodded. “We keep it cold in the lab, it's a habit.” He reached for her again, pulling her close and leaning down to meet her lips again.

Darcy slid her hands up his chest, finding the buttons on his short-sleeved shirt. This time when she had them all undone, he released her so that she could step back and push the shirt off his shoulders.

He was wearing a white undershirt under that, and her lips turned up in a smirk. “Seriously with the layers? This had better be the last one, or I might just start crying.”

“We can't have that.” Leo pulled his shirt up and off, and Darcy was a little relieved that there was nothing underneath.

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the dip in the middle of his clavicle. She straightened up with a grin and pulled off her own shirt before leaning forward again, pressing an open-mouthed kiss just underneath where she'd left the last one. She continued down across his lean torso until she came to the waist of his pants, which she quickly undid and pushed down, along with with underwear.

He was already hard, his cock bobbing right in front of her face, and when she closed her hand around it and licked a stripe just around the tip, she felt his hands on her shoulders. “If you do that, I won't last.”

Standing back, she released him. “Then I'm probably the one wearing too many layers now.” She made quick work of her own clothes, and the look on his face when she was naked too made absolutely everything worthwhile. He was looking at her like he'd just won the fucking jackpot or something.

“Why don't you lie down?” he suggested.

Darcy turned and crawled up the bed, turning and flopping back so that her head was on her pillow. Leo joined her on the bed, ending up kneeling between her legs. He leaned forward and kissed her, supporting himself with one hand on the mattress. He didn't stay at her lips, though, instead his mouth moved down over her jaw to the side of her throat. His lips traveled her skin with the same careful thoroughness he approached his inventions with, finding out exactly what felt good. And when he'd mapped out her neck, he moved down to her torso.

He may not have been having a good day with his hands, but his talented mouth more than made up for it. By the time he reached one pebbled nipple, Darcy was already straining up against him, little breathy moans escaping her throat.

“God, Leo, no wonder you were popular.”

He chuckled, and the vibrations against the sensitive peak of her breast just about made her come up off the bed. He took his time there, though, learning how to make her squirm underneath him, and then kissed a trail across to the other one to apply that knowledge there.

She was writhing underneath him when Leo finally released her nipple with an audible pop, his mouth once more moving down her body. He took his time, mouthing across the undersides of her breasts, pausing to nuzzle his nose into her navel.

Even when he reached the juncture between her legs, he leisurely explored the terrain of her body, tracing the crease of each thigh with his tongue before laying open-mouthed kisses all over her mound. By the time he reached her labia, she thought she was just about to explode.

She felt him gently spread her open with his thumbs, then the flat of his tongue licked a broad stripe from her clit to her already-soaked opening. Darcy let out a long moan, unable to keep herself from shifting her hips towards him, seeking more contact.

He took the invitation, fluttering his tongue across her clit. She closed her fists in her blanket to keep from gripping his head and shoving him directly into her pussy. “Fuck!”

He did it again and again until she was practically seeing stars. Her legs started to shake, and then she was coming, completely lost to the pleasure he was giving her.

Leo's expression was almost smug when she looked down to see him between her legs. “That was amazing,” she said with a sincere nod. “Now get up here.”

He shifted up her body until she was able to take him in hand again, guiding him directly into her wet heat. He leaned down to kiss her as he slowly pushed deep inside, and she could taste herself on his tongue.

She rocked up to meet him, drawing him in deeper. He started to move almost right away, and she met him stroke for stroke until he stiffened and she felt the rhythmic pulse of his own orgasm.

“Sorry,” he said, looking down at her as soon as his eyes opened again. “It's been...”

She gave him a reassuring smile, bending her neck to reach up and give him another gentle kiss. “Does this look like the face of a woman who didn't just get her mind blown? Seriously, where the fuck did you learn to do _that_?”

His expression turned into a grin that she could only classify as _cheeky_. “That's classified.”

“Fuck, whatever. Just, you know, as long as it happens again.” Darcy shifted her head back against her pillow and looked into Leo's blue eyes. “I mean, as long as you want to.” The underlying question was there- _did he want to?_

“As much as I can,” he replied, his grin still lighting up his eyes.

“Oh good. Just as long as I get to repay the favor sometime soon.” She leaned up to kiss him again.

“I should move.” He rolled to the side, resting his arm comfortably across her waist. They lay like that for a little while, then Darcy pulled her blanket up to cover them. Just as long as he got his own blanket when it was time to sleep...

“If everything goes according to plan, I have about a week left here,” Leo said.

She moved her arm until it was alongside his, resting the back of her hand against his palm and lacing their fingers together. “I'm going to miss you.”

“I'll miss you too.” He leaned forward, resting his forehead against the side of her head. “When I get back- to the Playground, I mean- I can probably have you come for a visit if you want. Coulson would probably appreciate the chance to... to...”

“Recruit me?” She felt him nod. “Whatever. As long as I get to see you again. I am not looking forward to you not being here.” She sighed, all of the euphoria he'd brought her was gone, and this train of thought was leaving her drained, empty. “Can we not talk about it right now? I kinda just want to cuddle with my husband for a while.”

“That's fine.” She heard the sad smile in his voice, and she lifted his hand up to her lips to kiss.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SEX! Finally.


	8. Chapter 8

Things got a little easier after that. Not like living with Leo was difficult at all or anything, but it was easier when Darcy didn't have to worry about keeping her hands to herself and making him uncomfortable by being too touchy-feely.

And maybe Leo had been a little touch-starved. His posture loosened up a little; instead of always having his arms folded, or tightly gripping his hands or twisting his fingers together- which Darcy was convinced was giving him epic knots in his shoulders- he was a lot more relaxed. Most of the time they spent together on their own, he was moving his hands through her hair or over her leg, as though having unfettered access to casual physical intimacy was new and different.

Lunchtime quickies were totally a thing, too, which was _awesome_. Bridal shower gifts were used and appreciated. Like was basically as close to perfect as it was probably ever going to get.

And then _that_ day came, the day Darcy was started to view with a certain amount of dread. She _knew_ , even if no one actually said anything about it. It was just a feeling she had in the pit of her stomach when she pushed Leo up against the wall beside their front door and kissed him like she'd never see him again before walking with him to Tony's lab.

The day went fairly normally, with the exception that it seemed to crawl by. Minutes felt hours long. And finally, just before lunch, the sat phone rang. Darcy kept it with her at all times _just in case_ , and the urge proved right in this case. She reached in and fished it out of her soft brown purse, answering it as she raised it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Fitz has moved on to the next part of his op,” came Bobbi's steady voice, a warm note of sympathy carrying clearly through the phone.

“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.” Darcy hung up. She and Leo had discussed what was going to come next. Carry on through the day as normal. Stop by to get him from Tony's lab after work and “discover” that he was gone. File a police report in the morning, check in with Bobbi frequently on the normal phone until Leo's mission was finished, all distraught and worried. That part was certainly going to come easily enough.

And she really didn't want to think about the part that would come after that.

Jane looked over from where she was squinting at the collection of holographic images that had replaced her corkboard. “Everything okay?”

“Not really.” They were alone in the lab, Jane's white-coated assistants or whatever had already gone off for lunch. “I think we should take a 'business lunch.' I kinda need to... Air. Space.” Speaking of space, maybe Thor was somewhere close by with his hugs made of space-magic.

“Oh no.” Jane was giving her full sympathy-face. “Darcy...”

Darcy shook her head. “Can we...?” She didn't want to talk about this here. No one but Tony's AI was listening in, but it felt too... close. Too immediate.

She stood up abruptly, her office chair rolling a little ways across the floor, and grabbed her purse. “Lunch? I'll buy.” Not that she was particularly hungry right at the moment, but a large cup of coffee and some space sounded just about right.

“Sure.” Jane stood up as well, tucking her hair behind her ears in an unconscious gesture that meant she was preoccupied. Well, that made two of them.

It wasn't long before they were seated in Jane's kitchen with a cup of coffee and some fries baking in the oven. Cheese fries sounded pretty fucking fantastic. They'd debated going to the diner across the street, but Darcy wanted to be able to actually talk about it, not watch every word that came out of her mouth in fear of the wrong thing being overheard. All of this undercover shit was really stressful.

Jane added a healthy splash of Irish Cream liqueur to her own mug, then one to Darcy's before putting the cap back on and setting the bottle back on the counter. “How are you?” she asked.

“Worried. Really fucking worried. I won't hear anything. I mean... Bobbi will know what's up, and I'll check in with her on the sat phone every few days just to make sure he's, you know...” _Alive_. “Okay. But, like...” Darcy sighed, shaking her head as she traced a finger over her rings. “It was perfect. It was just fucking perfect. Like... The sex was good. Really fucking good. And it just seemed to really... I don't know. Complete our relationship? That sounds stupid.” She made a face at her hand.

“No, that makes sense. It sounded like you guys actually had a real relationship.” Jane paused, seeming to think. “A good one.”

Darcy lifted her eyes and looked directly across at her friend, nodding emphatically. “Yeah. And it was really fucking awesome. Like, I'm seriously questioning some of my life choices up to this point- although, to be fair, if I'd been in a relationship with anyone before now, I might not have done... this.” Her eyes dropped down to her rings again, watching the overhead light sparkle in the green gem. “And now he's gone.”

“What's he going to do when he's done with...” Jane rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She was no more enamored of SHIELD than she had been when they'd fucking kidnapped the two of them and were giant dickbags about the whole not-answering-questions thing.

“Probably go back to SHIELD. They went through a lot of shit together, they're family now.” Darcy looked up to meet Jane's eyes, and Jane reached out and squeezed her hand. _They_ were family too.

“What about you?”

“Well...” Darcy took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I actually have to show up at Culver for my final exam. Pepper said they'd have someone fly me out there.” By private jet, because that was a thing. It was a little surreal that this was actually her life, _Pepper Potts_ had told her that they were flying her out to West Virginia by _private fucking jet_ just so she could take her final exam. “So that's a thing. And then... I have no fucking clue. I mean, Bobbi suggested that I stay pretty close to here, you know, concerned wife hoping my husband will turn up and everything.” She made a face. “I have a job here if I want it, and we don't know how long this is actually going to take.”

“And then what?” Jane asked, picking up her mug with both hands and taking a long drink.

Darcy sighed, using the excuse of taking a drink from her own mug to delay her answer. “I don't know,” she said, swallowing. “It would be weird to try an pursue a relationship with a man I met about a month ago, right?” The other woman raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, and Darcy had to smile a little. “Right. Sorry. Forget I asked that. But I'd have to make a life for myself out there, and do I really want to work for SHIELD?” No. No was the answer to that question.

Jane nodded in complete understanding. “Fair. But they're not out in the middle of nowhere, are they?” She sipped her coffee again, eyebrow going up. “Their satellite facilities are, but typically the bases have been in populated areas.” They'd both paid a lot of attention when all of SHIELD's secrets had come out. “Where are they, anyway?”

“Classified location that is totally _not_ somewhere in Virginia.” Leo hadn't gotten any more specific than that. “But yeah, it sounds like it's in a populated area. I don't know, though, like... It's not like I'm going to be able to swing by his- not lab, by the way, and how fucked up is that?- to make sure he leaves at a reasonable hour unless I am working for SHIELD. Something tells me that Coulson's not exactly going to welcome the idea that I would just be popping in and out of the base whenever.”

“Not... a lab?” Jane raised a questioning eyebrow, and Darcy just shook her head, spreading her hands wide. That was... Leo had told her about Simmons and that he was now working in the garage, as though that made any fucking sense. Whatever. Not her call.

“No. It's a...” Darcy rolled her eyes. “It's a thing.” She sighed. “The only other option would be a long-distance relationship, which... Sucks. Assuming...” Another long sigh, and she put her cup on the table, holding her rings and sliding them up and down between her knuckles. “Assuming he wants to keep doing this when he gets back.”

Jane just stared at her for a second. “You're kidding, right? I mean, ignoring how much I've seen you climbing into each other's tonsils-”

“Hey. _I_ have an intimate relationship with Thor's tongue, and he's never come near me with it.” Darcy paused. “Well, not like that. I assume he doesn't take it out when we hug.”

The other woman shot her a look and just continued as though she hadn't been interrupted. “- I've seen the way you guys look at each other. You're in love.” She leaned forward a little, as though to make her point. “With each other.”

Darcy scoffed. “Whatever. Aren't there supposed to be, like, choirs of singing angels and shit? The earth moves? Hearts float out of my eyes?”

“Oh, trust me, I've seen the hearts floating out of your eyes. You were probably too busy daydreaming about the next time you were going to climb into his tonsils to notice.” Jane put her cup down and got up from the table, turning towards the oven with the instincts of someone used to running on strict timers. Sure enough, the timer went off, and Jane opened up the oven, sliding out the tray to liberally sprinkle it with shredded cheese before pushing the fries back in the oven. She turned back around, leaning back against the counter beside the hot appliance. “I know you, Darcy. I know that if this is something you want badly enough, you'll figure it out, even if it means a little compromise.”

\---

After lunch, Darcy stayed in Jane and Thor's apartment while her friend went back to work. The coffee and fries had been chased with another cup of coffee with a higher concentration of Irish Cream in it, and while she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on actual work- mindless data entry would have just about killed her- she was a little too tipsy to head down for some target practice. Foresight would have been useful in that regard; shooting helped to relax her, and it would have been nice. But Jane had a nice, big TV, and after a while, Thor came in and sat down on the couch next to her. She nestled in against his side and they watched garbage daytime television until it was time to go down and get Leo after a day of work.

After the short elevator ride down to where Tony's section of R&D, Darcy punched in the security code and let herself through the thick glass door.

Tony was standing at one of his workbenches with a welding torch. He turned it off when he saw her, setting it down on the table. “You know the rules. If you borrow your husband for sex on the clock, I get to see the footage after.”

She shook her head, moving over to Leo's own office chair and sitting down heavily. He tracked her with his eyes, one eyebrow raising as she flopped into the padded seat. “Well, fuck. I guess today's the day, huh?” Tony didn't play well with others, so there was no chance of stray lab assistants or anyone else to overhear.

“Yup.” Her elbow went on the worktable beside her, and she rested her cheek heavily against her palm.

His eyes moved over her. “I'll take you to put in a missing person's report tomorrow.”

She blinked. That was a bit... unexpected. “You don't have to do that.”

“No... but I will.” He folded his arms and looked across the lab at her. “How're you holding up?”

“It's been a long day. It's...” She shook her head, rolling her eyes at herself. “It's harder than I thought it would be, you know? I was all, 'Yeah, he'll just go and it'll kinda suck, but it'll be okay.' But now I'm all worried about him and I'm all just...” Trailing off, she shook her head again, her elbow pressing against the hard surface of the work table. “Like, I'm pretty sure he's actually in danger. If they, you know, found out that all this was just a cover, he would be killed, which is why it was so fucking thorough.”

“Love is...” Tony's eyes were steady on hers. “... a little inconvenient sometimes. It's good when it's good, but it's killer when worry gets added in.”

She made a face. “Everyone keeps using that word.”

“You know, there's probably a reason for that.” He walked over to where she was sitting and stopped just in front of the office chair. “So. Any big plans for tonight? Moping, sitting around, possibly a maudlin margarita or two?”

Darcy leaned back so that she could keep looking up at him and not absolutely kill her neck. “That actually sounds just about right, yeah.” She didn't really want to go back to her empty apartment and see her big, empty bed.

“Change of plans, then.” He offered her his hand, and she took it and let him pull her to her feet. “I'm stealing you for the night. Leo mentioned something about... pepperoni and pineapple?” When she nodded, his eyebrow went up. “I try not judge, but that's weird. You are going to stuff yourself with pizza, drink some of my better half's amazing cocktails, and watch comedies that...” He narrowed her eyes a little. “Probably came out before you were born. Fuck, you're practically an infant. Are you even old enough to be married?”

She flipped him off, and he grinned. “That's a little better. Come on.” He pulled her into a hug before they headed out of the lab together.

The night wasn't actually that bad. 'Everyone' showed up for Epic Movie Night, including some people Darcy had never met before. That was fine. No one was staring at her or being awkward- these were people who were used to weird shit happening and just sorta rolled with it. She got more hugs, too. Steve... Steve's hugs were almost as good as Thor's.

She ended up getting just completely drunk on Pepper's margaritas and passing out snuggled up between Jane and Thor.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Must... finish... fic...  
> This has another chapter or two left, and I have it all figured out in my head, it's just a matter of getting it out. Hopefully will be done in the next couple of days.


	9. Chapter 9

She woke up on Jane's couch, which she totally appreciated, all tucked in under a blanket with a glass of water and two painkillers on the table beside her. Her head wasn't _too_ bad; Bruce the bio-chemist had made sure she'd had plenty of water along with her more potent beverages.

Jane and Thor were either already both out or still in bed, so Darcy quickly drank her water, taking the pills with it, and sneaked out the front door.

Her own apartment was so, so empty. Leo must have come back at some point during the day yesterday to pack a few things for himself because some of his clothes were gone, his shampoo, his toothbrush. That was what struck her the most, the sight of her own purple toothbrush sitting all by itself in the monkey-themed toothbrush holder in the bathroom.

She showered and got clean clothes on, and was just sliding her feet into her flats when there was a knock at the door.

Darcy went to open it, eyebrows climbing her forehead when she saw Tony standing there. “JARVIS said you were up. Ready to head out?” he asked.

“Sure.” She grabbed her purse and checked it for all of the essentials before stepping out into the hallway, the door automatically locking as it closed behind her.

Tony drove an unsurprisingly red car. He stood beside her as she filled out the details for the police report. Tony's being there made sense for Leo's cover, but Darcy also got the distinct impression that he actually cared about Leo, he actually cared about how upset Darcy was about the whole thing. He even took her out for lunch after, which was... kinda weird, given that he was basically a celebrity. Little kids kept coming up to him for his autograph. There were also some not-so-subtle mutterings that they were there _together_ , and he told her not to worry, that Pepper would deal with it.

Darcy called Bobbi in the car on the way back to the tower. That was more than a little surreal, considering the other woman was the one who'd told her about Leo. But Bobbi was a good actress- she was suitably worried without overdoing it, making Darcy promise to call as soon as she heard something.

Darcy heard from Bobbi regularly on the sat phone. Leo was okay, in deep cover, still alive. Bobbi confirmed that it was an actual risk, that if his cover was blown he was as good as dead. Somehow, that didn't help.

Darcy finished her final exam, had her diploma mailed to her. She started working in the PR department at SI. Kept her apartment with the disco ball alarm clock that made her smile every morning, even though she still had to climb on the bed to turn it off.

She kept herself busy, both dreading and looking forward to the end of Leo's mission. When it ended, he would be safe. When it ended, she would be able to see him again... soon? Maybe? Even if it meant another meeting with Coulson.

But before that...

It was three of the longest months in Darcy's life. Finally, though, Bobbi called her and told her that the mission was over and they were killing Leo's cover. That part was actually the easiest to fake. _Everyone_ knew that the Avengers had access to private investigative services, so it was entirely plausible for that information to just turn up out of nowhere.

Leo wanted to be buried one of those tree-growing things instead of the whole casket-graveyard deal. There was a plaque for it in place of a tombstone so there would be something to actually congregate around or look at or whatever. So early one morning, everyone trooped out with Darcy to plant the thing.

She cried. A lot. It was the release of tension, the relief that he was okay... and goodbye. Leonard Fraser, the man she'd married, was gone. It was stupid, she knew it was stupid, because Leonard Fraser had never really existed. But her mornings of watching him climb on the bed and turn off the disco ball, of making the R&D interns blush, of waking up in their gigantic bed, all cuddled together in the middle with their separate blankets... That was officially over. Really, it had been over for a while, but this just drove home that it was really, _really_ over.

Afterward, Tony offered to take her out for brunch, Jane offered to have her over for ridiculous carb-y junk food and rum-based hot chocolate, but Darcy just wanted to get back to her apartment and wallow for a little bit.

Bobbi and Mack had turned up for the event, of course, Bobbi in eye-hiding dark glasses, Mack in a tailored suit. They were heading back out as soon as they got back to the tower, but it was... it was good to see them again.

They were just getting back into the black SUV Mack had borrowed from SI, when Bobbi handed Darcy a phone. She pointed to it, indicating there was a call.

“Hello?” Darcy asked, tucking the phone under her shoulder so that she could put her seat belt on.

“Darcy? Have you been... Have you been crying?” The sound of Leo's voice threatened to start a fresh wave of tears, and it took a few seconds before she could come up with a suitable response.

“Yeah. I told you I would, didn't I?” Her voice was shaky, but words were coming out. Points for that, at least.

“Oh, sweetheart.” She was smiling a little bit, despite herself. He'd never called her that before, and she liked it. “Don't cry.”

She took a deep, shaky breath. “I'm done. I'm just... Really tired, and this was tougher than I thought it would be. It's a nice spot, though.”

“You'll have to show me one day. Coulson said it's a bit weird to look down and see your own grave.”

Darcy was smiling again. “I will. That means you'll have to come out here, though. Leave not-Virginia.”

“They let me out sometimes, you know. I'm not a prisoner here.” She could hear the warm amusement in his voice as well. “I miss you. Did you want to come back here with Bobbi and Mack?”

She sat up just a little straighter. “What, you mean right now?”

“Yeah, I mean... We talked about it, I don't think they have anywhere else they're headed right now.”

She felt the hot prickle of tears again, but this time they were happy tears, her mouth curving up in a wide grin. “Yeah. I'd love to.” She'd been given the next few days off, ostensibly as bereavement leave, but also really so that she could figure out what she was going to do now that this part of her life was over. Spending it with Leo sounded like really just the best idea.

“It's nothing like the tower, I don't have near as much room, but... I'm here.”

“That pretty much makes it awesome, yeah. I'll see you soon.” She turned off the phone and handed it back to Bobbi. “So...” she addressed the two in the front half of the SUV. “Rumor has it that you're willing to take me back to your super secret base with you.”

“Yeah, of course,” Mack answered. “You coming?”

“Yeah! I mean, I have to get some stuff together first, but it should only take me a couple of minutes.”

The mood was considerably lighter in the vehicle the rest of the way back to the tower. Darcy stopped to get a few things together for herself and let Jane know where she was going, and then she was walking onto the cloaked quinjet on top of the tower.

There were seats in the back, and she strapped herself in, her backpack between her feet. She couldn't stop her knee from bouncing as they flew through the air at what she assumed was high speed. Time seemed to pass extra slowly, though, every time she checked her phone, only a couple more minutes had passed. There were no windows in the back, no way for her to look out and see where they were or where they were going, so she passed the time with her phone.

Eventually, though, she felt the aircraft begin to slow. She tucked the phone back in her backpack, and her knee started jiggling again.

There was a bit of a jolt as the quinjet landed, and Mack looked back at her from the front seat. “We're here,” he announced, and Darcy was already undoing the harness that strapped her to the side of the quinjet.

There was a ramp that opened at the back, like a smaller version of the Bus, and Darcy practically jumped to her feet, grabbing her backpack and throwing it over her shoulder as the ramp slowly lowered.

Leo was immediately visible, standing a little way away and chewing on his thumbnail. His entire face lit up with a smile as soon as he caught sight of Darcy, his arms coming out as he reached for her.

She moved towards him, tucking herself against him and locking her arms around his waist. There may have been more happy tears, but she wasn't entirely sure. They just held each other, time seeming to stretch on into forever. Darcy rested her cheek against the soft blue sweater over his shoulder, eyes closing blissfully as she held him.

“I missed you,” she whispered, and she felt his arms tighten around her back.

“I missed you too,” he replied, and she pulled back so that she could look up into his face. He looked about as tired as she felt- happy, though.

“I was so worried about you.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his curly hair.

“I'm okay. I feel like I could sleep for a week. I just got back, and then the debriefing...” He shook his head. “There was a lot of debriefing.” His blue eyes moved critically over her face, Darcy could see the worry there. “You look like you could use some sleep, too.”

“Yeah. I didn't sleep much the past couple nights after I found out that we had to do the whole funeral thing today.” She made a face.

“I'm sorry you had to go through that, sweetheart.” Leo's fingers were combing through her hair. “It's over now, though.” He paused, and a wryness came into his expression. “Coulson wants a... He wants... Talk to you.”

“Yeah, I figured. I'm not anywhere close to dealing with _that_ right now, though.” She smiled, her eyes dropping from his to linger on the soft curve of his lips. “I was kinda hoping maybe we could take a nap for a bit and then share a couple of orgasms, and then maybe more sleep?”

He leaned down to close the short distance between them, brushing his lips over hers in a gentle kiss. “That sounds great, actually. Everyone wants to see you again, too, though.”

Darcy's eyebrows went up. “They do?”

“Yeah. Hunter says he's tired of hearing about you.” There was a bit of sheepish grin at that. He slipped away from her, offering her his hand, and she noticed that Bobbi and Mack had disappeared somewhere. The two of them were alone in the hangar.

She took Leo's hand, but something caught her eye. Flipping it over, she pulled it up so she could see properly. “You're still wearing your ring.” Her eyes moved to his again, and there was a faint stain of color high on his cheeks.

“Well...” His eyes moved down to the glint of gold on his finger. “Yeah. I mean... Shouldn't I?” There was a note of genuine worry in his voice. “Are we...”

“I...” Darcy looked at his ring, then lifted her hand and looked at her own rings. This wasn't something she'd really thought about. Her husband was dead, but yet Leo was standing right in front of her, wedding rings still matched and everything. She let out a sigh, her forehead falling to rest on top of his shoulder. “So, what? Sleep, orgasms, and serious conversation?” It had to happen, though. They couldn't just go back to the way things were, that was a virtual impossibility.

“Yeah.” He shifted his grip until they were looking at the back of her hand. He lifted her hand to his lips, pressing a warm kiss to it. “Sleep first, sweetheart?” He turned to lead her away, but she stayed where she was. When he found that she wasn't following him, he turned back to look at her, eyebrows up in startled question.

“I just wanted to say... Whatever happens from here, I love you, Leo.” She'd definitely had a lot of time to think about it, and apparently it turned out that everyone else was right. She was in love with her husband. No choirs of angels, no seismic activity, but there was no denying that he had her heart.

His smile spread across his face, and he stepped back towards her, taking her in his arms and pulling her close against his chest. “Darcy...” His lips moved over her hair, and when he spoke again, it was the faintest whisper. “I love you, too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... we're done. Thanks to everyone who read this, and especially those of you who encouraged me with comments and Kudos hearts. <3


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